12 



Fancy Pheasants. 



in either sex as a sport from the ordinary Peafowl, 

 nevertheless breeds tme, even with no trouble; 

 it is said, indeed, that if it appears among the 

 common birds, and all are allowed to breed together, 

 the black -winged bird: will swamp the other, although 

 smaller and not a match for it, if they come to blows. 

 It would be interesting to know how this comes about. 

 Peahens are known to have strong preference for indi- 

 vidual Peacocks, but in the case quoted by Darwin, 

 where this was observed, a bird of this variety was 

 slighted for a pied cock. So that it is possible that the 

 Japan form is prepotent, and that the colour is trans- 

 mitted in such cases through the hens of the variety. 

 The Peahen certainly ought to admire the Japan male 

 bird most, if she uses her eyes at all, for he is certainly a 

 great improvement on the ordinary biid, whose freckled 

 wings always make him look as if he had not moulted 

 out all his immature plumage, or, as an admirer of 

 Peacocks put it to me, they Jook like a piece of tweed 

 let into a rich costume of silk or satin ! 



Nevertheless, the Japan Peafowl must be seriously 

 handicapped in the struggle for existence by the pale 

 hue of the hens and chicks, for it is known to occur wild, 

 one hen having been killed in India. But few can 

 live to reach maturity in that country so full of birds 

 and beasts of prey. My friend Mr. B. B. Osmaston, 

 who is both sportsman and naturalist, tells me that the 

 common Peahen is very hard to see when sitting in the 

 jungle, as might be expected from her drab colour, but 

 it is obvious that pale birds would stand no chance, and 

 the Rajah who goes in for white Peafowl must " pre- 

 serve" very carefully. The black-winged Peafowl is 

 also wild in Japan, though naturalists do not admit that 

 country as a habitat of the species. Probably it was 

 introduced very long ago, and has been able to maintain 

 itself in a country less dangerous than India. I got my 

 information as to its occurrence there from Mr. Rut- 

 ledge, and there is a Japanese specimen in the Paris 

 Museum. Of course, if Japanese Peafowl were known 

 to occur wild nowhere else, and never to be produced 

 from tame common Peafowl, they would be a true 

 species. As it is, we know their origin, and so they are 

 called only a breed or variety. So it is that, apart from 

 the superior beauty of both sexes to the common birds, 

 this form of Peacock is one of the most interesting of all 

 birds, as it shows us that new species can arise suddenly 

 from others. 



The Green ok Javan Peafowl. 



(Pavo mioticus.) 



This species, the "Spioifer Peacock" of dealers, is 

 very distinct from the common Peafowl in several points. 

 It is a bigger bird, and more reachy in build ; the crest, 

 which inclines forward, is much longer and narrower, 

 and composed of narrow rounded feathers webbed nearly 

 all the way down. The neck feathers have firm, clearly- 

 defined edges, giving a scaly appearance to that part of 

 the plumage, like that of the back ; the bare skin of the 

 face is blue to below the eyes, yellow below and behind ; 

 and the legs and bill are darker than in the other bird. 

 Moreover, the hen in this species nearly resembles the 

 cock ; she is merely smaller, has no train, and no metallic 

 green on the back. 



Except for the scaly bronze-green neck plumage, the 

 cock's colouring resembles that of the black-winged 

 breed of the common species, his wings and thighs being 

 black ; his train, however, has more of the copper and 

 purple gloss about it. 



The hen's upper tail coverts are glossy green coarsely 

 pencilled with brown ; and the cock, which does not carry 

 his train long after the breeding season, is said to then 

 assume similar ones. 



I have never seen very young birds of this species, but 

 two of about the size of Pheasants I saw lately were 

 already miniatures of the old hen, and veiy pretty they 

 looked. 



This species extends from Chittagong, in the eastern 



part of India, through Burma to Java. It seems to have 

 been first krio^vn, however, from Japan, and, I am told, 

 is wild there. I certainly have the same evidence for 

 this as I mentioned in the case of the black-winged Pea- 

 fowl, and the green occurs in Japanese art ; but as 

 naturalists are silent about it, it may be only an intro- 

 duction. 



The green Peacock may fairly claim to be the most 

 beautiful of all known birds, as it certainly much 

 exceeds the ordinary species in beauty and elegance of 

 form. Its neck feathering, if less rich in hue than the 

 blue of its rival, has a particularly beautiful effect, as if 

 formed of metal work, and the almost equal beauty of 

 the hen places her far above the dowdy mate of the 

 common bird, and even above the delicate-looking 

 female of the Japan breed." Like the latter, she has 

 cinnamon flights like the male bird. 



The present bird is not so numerous, where it occurs 

 wild, as the ordinary Peacock is in India ; and it is not 

 very common in captivity, though often obtainable from 

 dealers. 



It is more delicate, at any rate in the East, and the 

 male in full plumage is apt to be extremely savage. At 

 the same time, birds of this species are often charmingly 

 tame. I know of one at present which will let itself be 

 picked up like a cat, and have seen another which would 

 gladly stand to have its head scratched. It is evidently 

 a bird of character. 



The Javan and Indian Peafowls have been crossed 

 both in India and in Europe ; but the hybrid, of which 

 a specimen can be seen in the Natural History Museum 

 at South Kensington, does not present any noteworthy 

 point of beauty as compared with pure specimens of 

 either kind. I have been told on good authority that 

 attempts made in India to cross the green Peafowl with 

 the white variety of the common bird were unsuccessful, 

 which reminds one of the objection recorded of some 

 green-coloured Finches to yellow Canary hens.' 



Before leaving the subject of Peafowl I may be per- 

 mitted to allude to a belief current among the native 

 fellow countrymen of both the Indian and the Burmese 

 species, that these birds and tigers affect the same 

 localities. The fact seems well established, but the 

 reason is not so easy to discover. Possibly the same 

 style of jungle, etc., suits both creatures ; or the tiger 

 watches the birds with a view to dinner ; or, which is at 

 least equally likely, the Peafowl keep an eye on 

 " stripes " to see what he will be up to next — a custom 

 which several animals are known to follow with regard 

 to their dreaded enemy. 



Peafowl have no very near allies, but a certain 

 resemblance,which may quite possibly be due to relation- 

 ship, is found in the Argus and Peacock-pheasants or 

 Polypi ectrons, with which I shall therefore deal in the 

 next chapter. Darwin, indeed, gives a long and inter- 

 esting sketch of the way in which a Peacock might have 

 been evolved out of a bird of the latter kind, assuming 

 that the hens always selected the handsomest mate 

 among those available for many generations. 



CHAPTER III, 



AKGUS AND PEACOCK PHEASANTS. 



The Akgus. 



{Argusianus argus.) 



The Argus Pheasant is a bird of large size, though 

 inferior to the Peacock, which it somewhat resembles 

 in its rather light and lengthy build. The head is bare 

 except for a longitudinal ridge of small, fur-like feathers 

 on the crown ; and the tail is folded vertically like a 

 common fowl's. The secondary quills are very long, 

 reaching beyond the flights even in the hen, and in the 

 cock being of enormous size, about three inches broad 

 and projecting over a foot/ beyopd the end pf the body, 



