PHOTOGRAVURE 8i 



THE ACTIVITIES OF PEAFOWL 



I 



Not only is It necessary for the head and neck to be drawn stiffly back when the train is spread, but 

 the true tail is of great importance in acting as a posterior support. The twenty great brown tail-feathers 

 form a solid fan against which the five score or more tall shafts lean securely. 



II 



Although truly tropical birds, and able to withstand the most extreme heat of the Indian plains, peafowl 

 adapt themselves to severe cold in northern countries. I have often seen these birds go to roost in tall 

 trees late on a winter evening, and next morning be completely hidden from view in wet snow which 

 had drifted over them. 



Ill 



In spite of the weight and obvious inconvenience of the great train of feathers, wild peacocks are able 

 to escape quickly by remarkably vertical flight, and to roost at night in the tallest trees. At the breeding 

 season, besides displaying before the hens, the cocks wage fierce battles with one another, leaping and 

 dodging and striking with their spurs at a rate of speed, and with an activity, which seems quite independent 

 of the weight and drag of the following, curving, twisting train. 



