i84 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



The only variety which man has obtained by careful selection is the white Peacock. 

 Pied birds occur now and then, the white being often asymmetrically disposed. From 

 continual breeding with such birds, pure white Peafowl have been obtained, even the 

 metallic train being of this colour. The second effect of captivity is the adventitious 

 appearance of a most interesting mutation, commonly called the Black-winged or 

 Japanned Peafowl. Of this I shall treat in detail on a later page. 



It is remarkable what hardy birds Peafowl are, even individuals which have been 

 brought direct from India being able to withstand very low temperatures. They perch 

 out-doors in high trees all winter, and even when frozen solid in a snow-drift have 

 survived after two days' incarceration. I have known them to be almost buried in snow, 

 not descending from their perch until the sun was well up. 



Of sixty-six specimens in the London Zoo the average length of life was two years, 

 the maximum a little over eight years. Instances are not uncommon of individual birds 

 reaching an age of forty or fifty years, while there is one authentic record of one which 

 died from old age at ninety-six. 



When the eggs of wild birds are hatched by a domestic fowl, the chicks are tame at 

 first and obedient to their foster mother. They will strut and spread their diminutive 

 tail when only a few weeks old. Later they become more wary, and unless caught and 

 confined will eventually leave the hen and go off to the jungle. Once caught in a trap 

 or snare they can never again be taken in one. 



Captive birds, even when provided with mates, will often display to other birds, 

 animals or people, and they have a curious tendency to form a close, intimate friendship 

 with some one animal, such as a dog, cat, kitten, fowl or turkey, permitting any 

 familiarity and eating and sleeping close to the object of their affection. 



MUTATION: BLACK-WINGED PEAFOWL 



Under this heading I unqualifiedly place the variation which occurs now and then 

 among captive birds, and to which, under the erroneous idea that it was a separate 

 species, Sclater gave the name Pavo nigripermis. The first mention of this form seems 

 to be by Latham in his "General History of Birds," where he says, "A pair of these 

 gorgeous birds was in the Leverian Museum, and said to be natives of Japan, but from 

 later information are rather supposed to inhabit Thibet or in Tartary ; are scarce birds, 

 and little known except in our kingdom and Holland . . . how far this is distinct, or 

 a Variety of the Common Sort, we are not prepared to answer, but it is certain that they 

 multiply with each other, and the produce, as may be expected, varies accordingly." 



Its history in later literature is chiefly an uninteresting discussion of its status 

 which need not be repeated. The upholders of the specific theory were not to be blamed 

 for thinking it a wild species until it was conclusively shown that it appeared 

 adventitiously in broods from normally coloured Pavo cristatus parents. We have as 

 yet no clue to the raison dStre, although careful experimentation should reveal it. 



It is probable that it has never appeared in a wild state, although more or less 

 completely albinistic cocks and hens are not unknown among the birds which feed near 

 the temples in India. It is also quite certain that, while it is an undoubted mutation, 

 yet if it appeared in a feral state it could never become widely established, for the very 



