GREEN PEAFOWL 197 



In the Malay States the Peacock is considered an unclean bird and is not eaten by 

 the Mohammadans. They deem its strutting habits as of ill repute, and also believe that 

 it guided the serpent to the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, and hence to be 

 under an eternal curse. The Malays of other faiths are not troubled with these beliefs 

 and readily eat the flesh. That of the young birds is delicious, but the adult cocks are 

 unbelievably tough. They have a proverb "like a peacock displaying in the jungle," 

 signifying that its beauties are being wasted. 



Both in Java and Burma there is a widespread belief that it is very dangerous to 

 have Peafowl near young children, as the birds are fond of swallowing precious stones 

 and are deceived by the eyes of the children and endeavour to peck them out. 



The Green Peafowl ranges over much of Java, and I observed it both in the 

 mountains and not far from the coast. It never occurs directly on the coastal lowlands, 

 however. I had been shooting and studying Javan junglefowl on the north shore near 

 the eastern end of the island for some time before I went into the interior. The high 

 rugged limestone ridges which extend at right angles to the coast-line converge in some 

 cases as they run inland, and form more or less narrow valleys. Such an one I followed 

 for many miles, and found it steadily rising and becoming more arid, and this proved 

 to be the favourite home of the Peafowl. In character of vegetation it was almost the 

 counterpart of South Ceylon, and the abundance of Peafowl and junglefowl in each case 

 made the comparison all the more striking. 



The ground was covered with short, parched grass, while dotted everywhere were 

 small clumps of cockspur, thorn acacias and other low shrubs, the orange-flowered 

 lantana predominating. Graceful tree acacias, ten or twelve feet in height, came next 

 in point of numbers. The food of both junglefowl and Peafowl is a huckleberry-like 

 fruit, edible for man, growing on a low briary shrub, which the natives call doro. The 

 berries are pale red, having a large stone and a rather flat taste. The crops of the birds 

 are invariably crammed with them. A young forest of teak was growing lustily in one 

 part of the valley watered by a small meandering stream, but more interesting were the 

 few isolated cotton trees, bare except for pods and a few red blossoms. These splendid 

 trees reached high above all the vegetation of the region, and were invariably the roost- 

 ing-places of the Peafowl, each providing a splendid look-out over all the surrounding 

 country. 



As a whole, the country is colourless ; dry and dusty hues prevail, with only the 

 tiny specks of red and orange lantana blossoms scattered over their aromatic foliage to 

 brighten the scene. A few swallow-shrikes flapped or soared about, an oriole blazed its 

 way across the sky, and doves, brown as the foliage, ran quickly about. Here and 

 there a dry land kingfisher perched mournfully, on the look-out for insects. And here, 

 in the heat. Peafowl rested under the acacias and waited for the sun to leave the zenith 

 so they could feed in comfort, plucking berries or scratching among the dead roots of 

 the grass for grubs and other insects. 



In the uplands of the interior of the island, the Peafowl nest among the jungle 

 undergrowth, sometimes not far away from the coffee plantations. Where not dis- 

 turbed, they frequently enter the cultivated areas morning and evening, but seldom do 

 much damage. Whenever obtainable, white ants form their chief animal diet, and they 

 will leave all other sources of food untouched when these termites are to be had in 



