130 BOMBAY DUCKS 



A similar belief prevails in India. There is a country 

 saying which may be thus rendered : " The peacock 

 danced merrily until he caught sight of his legs, when 

 he was ashamed and wept bitterly." 



According to Lockwood Kipling, the supposed ugli- 

 ness of the feet of the peacock is thus accounted for : 

 " The peacock and the partridge, or, as some say, the 

 myna, had a dancing match. In those days the peacock 

 had very pretty feet. So when he had danced the 

 partridge said, ' Lend me your feet and see me dance.' 

 They changed feet, but instead of dancing the deceitful 

 partridge ran away and never came back again ! " 



But let us leave these frivolities and return to sober 

 science. Peafowl belong to that large family of birds 

 which does not build nests. In such cases the young 

 are born covered with down and usually in a condition 

 to fend for themselves. The peahen lays her eggs in a 

 hole scratched in the ground and lined with grass or 

 leaves. The breeding season seems to vary considerably 

 in the different parts of India. 



The favourite haunts of peafowl are wooded, well- 

 watered areas, but they often occur in cultivated country, 

 especially in Upper India, where they are protected in 

 many places. In such districts, at the harvest seasons, 

 the birds appear to spend most of the day in fields of 

 ripening crops, and dozens of them may be flushed in 

 the course of an afternoon's quail shooting. Peacocks 

 are very abundant in some of the groves attached to 

 temples ; such birds may be said to be in a semi- 

 domesticated state. Indeed, peafowl seem to be as 

 ready to attach themselves to man as their related 



