Peafowl. 



11 



mentioned that in a long journey, such aa a sea voyage, 

 it is (juite hopeless to expect the long-tailed species to 

 remain in good trim and be comfori able ; and tnerefore 

 their exuberance of caudal appendage should be reduced 

 to a more reasonable length in the event of such an 

 ordeal. 



All the finest members of the present family, with the 

 exception of the Turkeys, inhabit Eastern Asia, India 

 being particularly rich in species. But many are bred 

 so successfully in Europe nowadays that the importa- 

 tion of some species has long ceased, and there are indi- 

 cations that this will soon be the case with others also. 

 My friend Mr. W. Rutledge, of Entally, Calcutta, has 

 long been in the habit of getting many of these splendid 

 birds down from the interior of India, and I shall be 

 indebted to him for a good deal of information about 

 them. The hardiness of tlie Pheasant constitution is 

 well shown by the way in which they end\ire the long 

 journey from the lulls, carried in small baskets on men's 

 heads. But, unlike most other birds, they are very 

 intolerant of heat, and few hill species can live through 

 an Indian summer. This will need to be remembered at 

 times by amateurs in England. 



CHAPTER II. 



PEAFOWL. 



The aristocracy of the feathered tribe are undoubtedly 

 the Peacocks ; in no other birds do feathers reach sucli 

 an extraordinary development, and none ha> e been so 

 long or so universally admired. So I shall take them 

 first, and proceed to discuss the other more striking 

 members of the family before addressing myself to its 

 less exalted representatives. 



Peafowl are, it is scarcely necessary to say, large birds 

 of a rather'reacl^ build, with very small, crested heads 

 and large, powerful feet. As a matter of fact, both in 

 his Indian home and in Europe the Peacock's feet are 

 supposed to be a wholesome check upon his otherwise 

 overweening pride ; but, after all, they are not worse 

 than the Turkeys, and he must have long, strong legs to 

 carry his chief glory, the train, well off the ground. It 

 is hardly necessary nowadays to explain that the train 

 is not the real tail, but only the greatly-developed upper 

 tail-coverts. The true tail in Peafowl is only mocle- 

 ratelj' long, and rounded. The sides of the face are bare 

 of feathers in both sexes, and the crest appears very 

 early in the young. Only two true species of Peafowl 

 are known, but one produces a "sport" of surpassing 

 interest, which may almost rank as a third. 



The Common Peafowl. 

 {Pavo cristatus.) 



In the common Peafowl the crest is fan-shaped, each 

 feather being a bare shaft with a small fan-shaped por- 

 tion of web at the tip ; tlie bare part of the face is white, 

 and the neck-feathers are loose-edged and blended into 

 one uniform surface, as in most birds. It is unnecessary 

 to go into full details as to the plumage of such a well- 

 known bird, but it should be noted that in the male the 

 neck and breast are rich blue, the back coppery -green, 

 with the feathers edged with black and scale-like ; the 

 wings mostly pale buff, coarsely pencilled with black, 

 except the flights, which are cinnamon. The flanks are 

 deep green, and the belly blackish-brown, contrasting 

 with the pale drab thighs. The real tail is brown, and 

 the train, as everyone knows, metallic copper-and-green 

 with blue-and-purple " eyes " at the tips of the 

 feathers. 



The hen is drab above, with a dark brown head and 

 neck touched with green ; her tail is dark blackish 

 brown, and her flanks and nnderparts below the breast 

 pale dirty buff. The bill and feet in both sexes are dark 

 horn colour. Young Peacocks at first resemble the 

 hens, but can be distinguished by their cinnamon flights, 

 ,and the neck soon becomes blue ; they spread their tails 



and try to show off long before the tram grows ; the 

 plumage is not perfect till the third year. This Pea- 

 fowl's native home is India and Ceylon ; but it was 

 introduced into Europe many centuries ago, and is now 

 known in all civilised countries. It is so far. domes- 

 ticated that it can be allowed full liberty, and is per- 

 fectly hardy in England, roosting out-of-doors in all 

 weathers ; at the same time it bears confinement well, 

 but is too noisy a bird to be kept near a house. Although 

 Peacocks are not much given to fighting with each 

 other, they are bold, somewhat vicious birds, and 

 may at times be dangerous to weaker creatures^ 

 and even to children, and they also have the repu- 

 tation of being very destructive in gardens. 

 But a vicious Peacock can easily be got rid of, and, as 

 to his horticultural misdeeds, it must be remembered 

 that he is a whole flower garden in himself ! In his own 

 country he is sacred, and it is stated that when Alex- 

 ander the Great invaded it, he forbade his soldiers to 

 kill the wild Peafowl, so much was he struck with the 

 beauty of the birds ; and we know also t^iat the bird 

 fanciers in Greece thought a great deal of them when 

 they became obtainable there —some are said to have 

 travelled from Sparta to Athens to get even a sight of 

 the splendid novelty. 



Nowadays the Peacock is rather a bye-word than 

 otherwise, but I hope there will always be sufficient 

 good taste among us to ensure the cultivation of the first 

 and finest of fancy birds. The Peahen should be 

 allowed to manage her o^vn chicks ; she is a good mother, 

 and the young need more " mothering " than ordinary 

 poultry, as they remain with her much longer. They 

 are very good eating, and are often shot for the table 

 in India, though old birds are only fit for soup— a Pea- 

 cock is supposed to be the proper foundation for 

 "Mulligatawny." It takes a good high fence to keep 

 Peafowl in, even if their wings are cut ; but though 

 their flight is more regular and leisurely, when fairly 

 launched, than that of most Game birds, they cannot 

 keep it up long, and may be ridden or even run down in 

 tlie open. 



It may be mentioned as a great point in the Peacock's 

 favour that he kills and eats young snakes, even 

 poisonous ones, so that people residing in adder-stricken 

 localities should keep these birds as an aid to the exter- 

 mination of these undesirable reptiles. 



Although the form of the Peacock does not seem 

 liable to variation, this is not the case with the coloura- 

 tion of the species. Most people have seen the white 

 variety, wliicli, if clean, has certainly a delicate beauty 

 peculiarly its own. It is much appreciated in India, and 

 Mr. Rutledge constantly imports it. He tells me tliat 

 lie knows of a Rajah who has stocked his jungle with 

 the breed. Pied birds are also seen, but I can't say I 

 think much of them from an aesthetic point of view. A 

 buff variety could also probably be raised, for buff hens 

 have occurred in the wild state, and Mr. Rutledge once 

 obtained and sold to the ex-King of Oude — a very keen 

 bird-fancier — a male of the colour of a new copper coin. 

 This was evidently the buff form of the cock ; it must 

 have been a most splendid bird. But the most interest- 

 ing variety is that which lias even been given rank by 

 some authors as a species, under the name of the Japan 

 or Black-winged Peacock. 



The Japan oe Black-winged Peafowl. 



[Pavo iiigripennis.) 



The male of the breed differs from the common Pea- 

 cock in having the wings black, with a green ajid blue 

 gloss in places, -ivith the exception of the flights, which 

 are cinnamon, but slightly streaked with black ; the 

 thighs are also black instead of drab. The hen is white 

 with a black tail, and the upper plumage grizzled and 

 splashed with black ; she has the flights cinnamon, like 

 the male. The legs in both sexes are white. Young 

 birds are white at first, but the young males soon get 

 dark. This form, which is positively known to appear 



