18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



and lower liills rather than of the higher mountains, and generall}" 

 keeps below 2,000 feet, though in many places it is found at consi- 

 derably higher elevations. Thus it has been found in Nepal and 

 the borders of the Sikkini Hills up to 4,000 feet, though it is but 

 rarely met with so high up, Ool. Ward records that it is found in 

 Jummu and Kashmir, but does not say at what height, merely 

 remarking that it is confined to the lower hills. In the Neilgherries 

 it ascends as high as 5,000 feet, but keeps lower than this, so far as 

 is known at present, in the other hill districts of Southern India. 

 The greatest height at which it has been recorded is by the late 

 Mr. P. Dodsworth in Simla. This gentleman found it very common 

 in the Dhami Reserve at 5,500 feet, and notes that a pair was seen 

 on the Kalka-Simla Eailway near Tara Devi Station at an elevation 

 of 6,050 feet. 



It is not easy to write of the habits of the Peafowl in general 

 terms, for there are two distinct birds under this name which, 

 though outwardly the same, vary in character almost as greatly as 

 it is possible for them to do so. 



Over a great part of Hindoo India Peafowl are considered sacred 

 birds and strictly preserved by the natives, who bitterl}^ resent any 

 interference with them, so that these birds have been the cause of 

 frequent trouble between " Tommy Atkins " on the shoot and the 

 natives of the villages near where they pursue their sport. Even 

 where the natives do not consider the bird to be actually sacred, 

 there are many parts of India where the bird is venerated to a 

 certain extent, or thej'' are considered lucky and never persecuted. 

 In such places there cannot well be any more confiding bird than 

 the Peafowl, and he haunts the immediate vicinity of villages, 

 feeding openly in the cultivation in the early mornings and 

 evenings, scarcel}^ moving off the roads when disturbed hj passers- 

 by, and leading his wives and their families into groves and 

 orchards, or into the low scrub jungle, so often found / all round 

 Indian villages, where they may be sought, found, and watched 

 by whosoever will. 



But take the Peafowl in his haunts in those parts of India where 

 man, instead of protecting him, takes ever}^ opportunity of 

 slaughtering him either for the sake of his flesh, or, to a less extent, 

 for his beautiful feathers, and it will indeed be hard to find a bird 

 more wwj or clever in avoiding observation and pursuit. 



On the banks of the hill streams which run north from the North 

 Cachar Hills into the Brahmapootra River the bird was by no 

 means rare. On these rivers the usual mode of travel was upon 

 two dug-outs fastened together with a platform of plaited split 

 bamboo, upon which was erected a semi-circular grass hut about 

 3' high, running some 10' or so along the platform. The current 

 of the little river was the only means of propulsion down stream, 



