INDIAN PEAFOWL 171 



standing with drooping train and trailing wings. I have seen him spread his train out 

 laterally, lying flat against the branch, any further spreading being, of course, out of the 

 question in a situation requiring such nicety of balance. I have seen him walk up and 

 down the branch, and once an athletic hen actually leaped over the cock and walked 

 along the branch until she reached a spot where it intersected another, on which she 

 climbed. All seem to wait until the cock is ready to descend. He occasionally calls, 

 and I have even heard him give his loud cry after he has gone to roost in the early 

 dusk. In the breeding season he begins calling as soon as he has descended, and at 

 such times he interrupts his feeding every few minutes to stand erect and send forth his 

 challenge. 



Food and drink are the things of first importance in early morning, and the birds 

 go at once to some known source, either where berries or fruits have fallen during the 

 night, or wilted flowers have dropped their petals, or to some long-suffering colony of 

 white ants, where strenuous scratching and pecking is sure to reveal an abundance of 

 luscious larvae. The birds may or may not go to drink immediately after descending 

 from their roost. This is certainly not the case when there has been rain, but I have 

 known a small flock of Peafowl to make their way at once to a jungle stream and drink 

 long and deeply. When making their way with such a definite object in view, the two 

 separate times I have observed them, while myself hidden from view, the cock has 

 seemed to loiter in the rear, the hens straggling ahead in a more or less compact body, 

 pursuing an insect now and then, or picking up a leaf, while the cock, at least while 

 within my sight, scarcely ever ceased his scrutiny of the surrounding jungle. 



Peafowl feed almost invariably in open places, occasionally in open jungle, but, as 

 far as I could discover, never in dense undergrowth or among thick growth of trees or 

 bamboo. This is unquestionably correlated with their method of escape by flight and 

 desire to be free to discern the danger at the earliest possible moment. When the 

 danger is only suspected, the birds will always make their way quietly off, and perhaps 

 halt a short distance away, on the alert to see if their suspicions are well founded. 

 When once thus put on their guard, all further chance of approach is impossible, and if 

 again disturbed, they usually take at once to flight. 



As the heat of the day increases the Peafowl do one of two things : they usually 

 mount to some low bare bough, perhaps only a few feet above the ground, but shaded 

 by foliage overhead, or they gather together in some partly open patch of jungle. In 

 the first instance both cock and hens may perch, some of the birds apparently sleeping, 

 others preening their plumage, or the cock alone may take a point of vantage and keep 

 watch over the hens on the ground beneath. Thus quietly the heat of midday is 

 passed. Once, cached on a sitting branch, concealed by a screen of leaves, I watched 

 two hens taking a dust bath. They had hollowed out cavities in which they were half 

 hidden, and were flipping clouds of dust over their bodies with great sweeps of one 

 wing. The heat was intense and their beaks were wide open, and after fifteen minutes 

 both birds arose, shook themselves and retreated to the shade of a nearby bush, where 

 violent shakings and preenings went on as long as I watched. 



As regards friends, or any friendly associations with other creatures of the jungle, 

 the Peacock, like the argus, is sufficient unto himself. He asks no help and keeps 

 aloof, his supposed association with the tiger being probably based wholly upon the 



