14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



The form known as nigripennis differs from the common one in 

 having the scapulars and wing coverts black with narrow green 

 edges ; the thighs are black and the back is still more golden than 

 in the normal plumage. 



There is nothing to prove that the form is other than an abnor- 

 mal phase, shewing, perhaps, an inclination towards melanism. It 

 is very rare and has hitherto never been obtained in birds in a state 

 of nature. Grant suggests that this form niaj be a reversion to the 

 original ancestor of all peafowl, but there is no proof of its being an 

 atavism, and it appears to me that some tendency to melanism is a 

 more likely cause. 



Albinoism is very common, even in a wild state, many such 

 birds having been shot, whilst in a domestic state the form has 

 become a permanent one, breeding true with great regularity. 



Distribution. — Practically the whole of India proper and Ceylon 

 with the exception of the Trans-Indus in the North- West and the 

 extreme North-Bast of the Empire next to Burmah. 



In Sind it is now common, though not indigenous, and it is 

 equally so in Rajputana, Cutch and Guzerat. It is never found in 

 the greater part of the Sunderbands in Eastern Bengal, but it 

 occurs rarely in the district of Mymensingh and in Barisal in the 

 low-lying forest bordering the sea coast and tidal rivers. In the 

 24 Parganas, Nadia and adjacent districts, it does not now exist, 

 but probably did so at one time except in the most swampy parts. 

 It used to be comparatively common in the Santhal Parganas and 

 many districts in West Bengal, but is undoubtedly becoming less so 

 year by year. 



In Assam it is found on both sides of the Brahmapootra River 

 North and South, but the watershed of the mountains on the South 

 would appear to be its boundary in that direction. It is very 

 common in the Garo and Mikir Hills, common in the north of the 

 North Oachar Hills, and thence extends along the north of the 

 Khasia Hills and the various Naga Hills as far as Sibsagar and 

 Dibrugarh, becoming more and more rare as one works East. 



According to native legends. Peafowl were once common in 

 Manipur, and I have heard of its being shot in the early nineties 

 by some sportsmen North-East of Imphal, but presu.mably these 

 birds, if they ever did exist, were of the Burmese form. In 

 Cachar and Sylhet, south of the watershed, it does not occur, but I 

 have heard of its being shot in Commilla and the Tippera Hill 

 States, though here again the bird is more likely to be the Burmese 

 than the common Peafowl as the latter form certainly does extend 

 into the south of the Looshai Hills and Chittagong Hill Tracts. 



In Travancore Bourdillon says it is becoming more and more 

 rare, and the Peafowl would appear to be one of those birds which 

 increase enormously directly the slightest protection is afforded. 



