PAVO CRISTATT7S. 735 



A brother officer, who is well acquainted with the Peacock in a state of nature, informs me that the young 

 birds in Bengal resort much to the fields of Jowaree, and afford excellent shooting. 



Notwithstanding the showy manners of a fine Peacock as seen in an English demesne, those who have 

 not seen him in a state of nature during the courting-season can form no idea of his pomp and pride when 

 strutting about with tail and train erect for the gratification of his partners ; and when half a dozen full- 

 plumaged birds are seen occupying a small opening in the forest, holding one of these displays, each vieing 

 with the other in his efforts to exhibit his gorgeous attire, the sight is one not easily to be forgotton. I once 

 came suddenly upon such a Pavonian arena in some jungle near Tamblegam ; and the sudden change in the 

 performance, as the affrighted actors fled in all directions, was very amusing. 



Numbers of Peacocks are caught in India by means of snares, which consist merely of hair nooses ; they 

 are then sold alive for the purpose of being domesticated. That it has from the earliest times been regarded 

 with great admiration by eastern nations is unquestionable, and the date of its exportation from India into 

 other countries must be very remote. We have inspired authority as to its being brought to Palestine, and 

 having contributed towards the wealth of Solomon's possessions ; and from that country it found its way, most 

 likely, to Greece and Rome. Aristotle wrote concerning it, and (among other facts of its natural history) stated 

 that it laid twelve eggs. After devoting two pages to it, he concludes with the following passage, which, 

 though true in essence, is decidedly uncomplimentary : — " They are pestilent things in gardens, doing a world 

 of mischief; they also throw down the tiles and pluck off the thatch of houses; the Peacock, saith Aldro- 

 vandus, though he be a most beautiful bird to behold, yet that pleasure of the eyes is compensated with many 

 ungrateful strokes upon the ears, which are often afflicted with the odious noise of his horrid cry, whence, by 

 the common people in Italy, it is said to have the feathers of an angel, but the voice of a devil and the entrails 

 of a thief. It is said (and I can easily believe it) to produce its life to an hundred years." 



Nidification. — In the Hambantota district the Peafowl breeds from January till April ; it lays its eggs in 

 a depression in the ground, lined with dry grass and leaves. Two eggs which I have from this part of the 

 island measure 2'66 and 2 - 74 inches in length, by 2 - l and 2"28 in breadth respectively. They are stumpy 

 at both ends, and, as can be seen by the measurements, very round ; the ground-colour is greyish buff ; one of 

 them has faint reddish-grey blotches in a zone near the smaller end. 



In India it breeds from July until October, and is variously described as nesting in thick grass, dense 

 bushes, among thick underwood, on sloping banks, or even on the bare ground ; and the nest is said to be lined 

 " with a few leaves and twigs or a little grass." Mr. Hume is of opinion that six or seven is the usual com- 

 plement of eggs; but Miss Cockburn found as many as fifteen in one nest; but it may be that these were 

 not all laid by one bird. The eggs are described as typically rasorial, the shells closely pitted throughout 

 with minute pores, more deeply indented in some than in others ; some are thickly freckled with pale reddish 

 brown. The average size of forty eggs measured by Mr. Hume is 2'74 by 2'05 inches. 



