THE PEACOCK PHEASANTS. 133 



successive moult ; but it appears to be shed very irregularly. Though it cannot be said to be a 

 favourite with sportsmen in India, few can resist a shot at a fine Peacock whirring past when 

 huntino- for small game. Yet Peachicks are well worth a morning's shikar for the table, and a 

 plump young Peahen, if kept for two or three days, is really excellent, An old Peacock is only fit 

 for soup." 



A bird merely winged will often escape by the fleetness of its running. They generally roost on 

 particular trees, and by going early or late to this place they can readily be shot. Peafowl are easily 



PEACOCK PHEASANT. 



caught in snares or common hair nooses, and are generally brought in alive for sale in numbers in 

 those districts where they abound. In confinement they will destroy snakes and other reptiles, and 

 in their wild state feed much on various insects and grubs, also on flower buds and young shoots, as 

 well as on grain. 



In the same sub-family are to be found the Peacock Pheasants (Polyplectron], which inhabit the 

 eastern Himalayas and the mountains of the Indo-Malayan islands. In colour they are brown, as a 

 rule, but the tail has a number of green or purple spots, like the " ocelli " of a Peacock, and this 

 peculiarity has gained for them the popular title of " Peacock " Pheasants. Finally, with the Pea- 

 fowl must be placed the magnificent Argus Pheasants, of which there are two species known, the 

 common Argus from Malacca, and the Gray's Argus from Borneo. In its t wild state the Argus 

 Pheasant is seldom or never seen, but it is frequently trapped by the Malays, who set springs in the 

 woods where they see the track of a Pheasant, and thus capture not only the Argus but all sorts of 

 160 



