732 PAVO CEISTATUS. 



Adult male. Length to end of tail 45-0 to 50-0 inches ; wing 18-0 to 22 - ; tail about 24-0 inches, " train " (in old 

 birds) 4 to 5 feet ; tarsus 5-5 to 6'0 inches ; middle toe 2-9 ; hind claw 0-5 ; bill to gape 2-0. 



The " train " in a fine specimen in the national collection, British gallery, measures about 4 feet 9 inches. 



Iris dark brown ; bill pale brown, darker at the tip ; orbital skin greyish ; legs fleshy brown, toes darker. 



i^eck and chest metallic prussian or lazuline blue, the centres of the feathers pervaded with a greenish tinge ; feathers 

 of the head, upper part of throat, and the sides of the head green, tipped with blue ; the ear-coverts, lores, and a 

 streak over the eye black; back " beetle "-green, with scaly or clearly-defined black margins to the feathers, which 

 are circular at the tips; lesser wing-coverts, scapulars, tertials, and the innermost greater coverts buff, each feather 

 with a wavy bar of black ; the markings of the scapulars and tertials of a broader type than the others, and glossed 

 with green ; secondaries blue-black ; greater coverts brilliant purple, the inner webs illumined with green ; prima- 

 ries and primary-coverts cinnamon-red, paler on the outer webs ; the blue of the chest changes into deep green 

 on the breast, the centres of the feathers darkest ; vent and under tail-coverts brown ; shorter upper tail-coverts 

 bronze-green, the tips enclosing a large circular brown patch, in the centre of which is a blue-green circle 

 containing a blackish-blue " eye " or disk ; longer upper tail-coverts or " train " the same as the shorter, the ocelli 

 are larger, and the brown ground-colour surrounded by a golden-green and violet circle, the whole feather being 

 illumined with a brilliant metallic gloss ; the decomposed portion of the webs of the longer feathers is very bronze ; 

 tail brown ; crest-feathers blue-green at the tips. 



Abnormal forms of crest are sometimes seen. Mr. Bligh writes me of a female, recently shot, which had a double 

 crest — that is, the shaft was produced above the tip, and surmounted again by a second expausion. 



Female (India: B. Museum). Crown and in front of the eye chestnut; tips of the crest-feathers brown ; throat and 

 sides of the neck adjacent to it white ; ear-coverts tipped brownish ; beneath the white gorget the neck is ferru- 

 ginous chestnut, changing to green, the feathers being tipped with whitish, which increases on the chest ; back, 

 wings, and upper tail-coverts brown ; the latter lengthened, reaching to within about 3 inches of the tail, and 

 mottled with whitish : greater wing-coverts darker brown than the back and mottled with whitish ; quills brown ; 

 tail blackish brown ; breast and abdomen white. 



Young (nestling, partly feathered : B. Museum). Head, back, and lesser wing-coverts rusty brown ; face, lores, and 

 under surface buff-white, exteuding above the eye : hind neck fulvous-brown ; median wing-coverts whity brown, 

 the greater series tipped with white, with a subterminal blackish bar ; primaries cinnamon-colour ; secondaries 

 brownish cinnamon, tipped and barred at the ends like the coverts ; tail brownish, tipped with white. 



Immature birds in the first year resemble females. 



Obs. Ceylonese examples are quite as fine as Indian. The length of the train varies, of course, with age, and birds 

 of similar age must therefore be compared with one another. 



The Burmese Peacock (P. muticw), the representative of the Indian species beyond the Bay of Bengal, differs from 

 this latter in having a different crest and a handsomely-coloured facial skin of blue and yellow. The crest reaches 

 a length of nearly 5 inches at times ; the feathers are webbed. Crown emerald-green. The feathers of the neck 

 and chest are blue at the bases, with golden-green edges, those of the back metallic green, illumined with bronze 

 and edged with black; the primaries are paler than in the common species, the secondaries are brownish green, 

 and the ocelli, though of similar colour, are smaller, and the purple-blue centres are more indented or divided at 

 the upperside by the green. 



Distribution. — The Peacock is essentially a bird of the dry districts of Ceylon. It is comparatively 

 unknown in the humid district south of the Malia-oya (W. Province), and in travelling eastward from Galle is 

 first met with shortly after leaving Tangalla. It is tolerably plentiful in the eastern portion of the Girawa Pattu, 

 and its numbers increase towards the east. In the Harnbautota, Kirinde, and Yala districts it is as abundant 

 as anywhere in the island, but it does not extend (at any rate in large numbers) further inland thau the southern 

 portion of the Wcllaway Korale. It is tolerably numerous throughout the maritime parts of the Park country, 

 as far north as the Batticaloa Lake, and is likewise plentiful in the interior of that district. Northward of this 

 again it is numerous beyond Vendeloos Bay, and inland through the delta of the Mahawelliganga to the 

 Vellai-Plains district. Round Tamblegam Bay, and thence towards Kanthelai tank, it is common ; and near the 

 Bay I have seen as many as twenty in a flock. Immediately to the north of Trincomalie it is not common, 

 probably owing to the manner in which it has been shot away by the natives for the market in the town. But 



