THE GREY PEACOCK PHEASANT 65 



was the full number, and in several females which I have dissected the condition 

 of two ova showed that they, and they only, were about to be laid. I have found 

 the nest both of this and of a closely related species each with two eggs half 

 incubated, and writers are almost unanimous on this point. The only exception I 

 can find in literature is where Stuart Baker writes as follows of the Grey Peacock 

 Pheasant in North Cachar : "They breed in March, April and May, laying from 

 two to six eggs, generally four or five, just like those of the common fowl, but 

 more rich in hue. Many I have taken could have been paired with richly coloured 

 eggs of the Cochin-China fowl." Hume writes : " In captivity the females produce 

 two or three broods in a year, and lay only two eggs to a sitting. In a wild state 

 they probably lay more eggs, and only once a year." This last statement is, of 

 course, valueless save as an expression of opinion, which is not borne out by facts. 



In captivity, at least, the eggs are deposited every other day, and when the 

 second is laid the female begins sitting at once. The breeding dates extend from 

 late February to the end of July, but the usual time is late March and the early 

 half of April. 



I have in my collection two sets of two eggs each which were taken near 

 Margherita, Assam, in June. Two are slightly paler than the others, but the 

 general hue of all is a pale pinkish white. The two paler eggs show a few fine 

 chalky pits scattered irregularly over one side, while in the other eggs the pits are 

 not different from the rest of the surface in colour. The shape is a broad oval, 

 and the measurements as follows : first set, 46 x 39 ; 46 x 37 ; second set, 48 x 37 ; 

 44"5 ^ 37*5- I have seen other eggs much more profusely flecked with white, filling 

 the pits and extending out on the surface as a tiny irregular smear behind each pit 

 in the direction of the small end of the egg. 



It has long been the custom when breeding the Peacock Pheasant in captivity 

 to remove the two eggs of the set as soon as they are laid, and thus to induce the 

 hen, in the course of a few weeks, to lay again. If the season is suitable and the 

 diet satisfactory a single hen will produce eight to twelve or even fourteen eggs in 

 a season. From observation of the chicks we are able to record several interesting 

 facts which would probably remain for ever unknown had we to depend upon wild 

 birds alone. The peep of the chick is much shriller than that of the common fowl, 

 but it is seldom uttered, and only when the young bird is, or thinks it is, in dis- 

 tress. If the chicks are hatched and mothered by a bantam they are sometimes 

 trampled or starved to death, much more often succumbing to one or the other of 

 these dangers than do the young of other species. When their own mother cares 

 for them we see the reason for the occasional catastrophes. Although her tail is 

 much shorter than that of her mate, yet it is relatively quite long and usually 

 carried low and arched from side to side. When she starts out to seek for food, 

 her two chicks keep close behind, well in the shelter of the tail, and come out only 

 at intervals when she summons them to get a bit of food, after which they dart 

 back again. Looking down at her, one would often be wholly unaware that any 

 chicks accompanied her, so hidden do they keep. I have seen a chick with a 

 bantam, rush out at her cluck, seize the morsel, and dive back again, when the hen, 

 scratching vigorously, would step backward full upon the little chick, which, obedient 



VOL. IV K 



