PAVO. 67 



Genus PAVO. 



Pavo = proper name = Peacock ; the same as Greek raws, Anglo-Saxon pawa, English Pea/owl, 

 Argus, king of Argoa. As he had one hundred eyes, of which only two were asleep at one 

 time, Juno set him to watch lo, whom Jupiter had turned into a heifer ; but Mercury, by order 

 of Jupiter, slew him, by luUing all his eyes asleep with the sound of his lyre. Juno put the 

 eyes of Argus on the tail of the Peacock, a bird sacred to her divinity. 



Tail of twenty feathers. Occipital crest-feathers long and erect in both sexes. 

 Upper tail-coverts lengthened and beautifully ocellated, forming a "train." 

 Males with one spur on each tarsus. Short spur in females. Polygamous. Koost 

 on trees. 



The short, stiff feathers fixed in the uropygium represent the true tail, and 

 serve as a fulcrum to raise and support the long and heavy train. "When this 

 train is erect only the head and neck of the bird appears in front of it, which 

 would not be so if these long feathers sprang from the rump as in Turkeys 

 (W.H.K.). Found wild in India, Indo-Chinese countries, and part of Malaya. 



9. Pavo cristatus. The Common Pea-fowl. 



Criste<«s= formed with a tuft or crest, crista. 



Mor, India; Mujur, Tcrai; Myl (Tamil) ; Nimili (Telegu); Nowl (Canarese); Monara, 

 Ceylon; lAoir, Assam; Mabja (Bhutia); Mong-yung (Lepcha); Dod€, Garo Hills. 



S 42" to 48" to end of true tail, train 40" to 48" ; 9 to 11^ lbs. 2 36" to 40", 

 tail 12" to 15"; 6 to 8 J lbs. Legs grey-brown. Bill horny brown. Facial skin 

 white. Crest of twenty-four feathers, naked shafts, webbed at tips. Head, neck, 

 and breast purple. Above green. Lesser and median wing-coverts, shoulder- 

 feathers and inner secondary quills buff, barred and mottled black, glossed green. 

 Primaries and tail chestnut. Train green. Thighs buff. Abdomen black. — 

 Female: Head and nape chestnut. Above light brown, with faint wavings. 

 Tail light brown, tips white. 



"Cases of gradation are important, as they show that it is at least possible 

 that highly complex ornaments may have been acquired by small successive 

 steps." — Darioin. 



The feathers of the Peacock are excellent examples of gradation in ornament, 

 showing a gradual transition from a comparatively plain and simple feather 

 merely marked with alternate dark and light bands and having no metallic lustre 

 into the elaborate and gorgeous " eye-bearing " feather, one of the most beautiful 

 objects in the world. Similarly there is a retrograde transition from the fully 

 developed eye-bearing foi^m of the elongated central tail-coverts to the curiously 

 modified feathers which complete the margin of the train. The terminal portion 

 of one of the tail-coverts shows the beautifully coloured ocellus or eye surrounded 

 above by the "transparent zone," an effect produced by the absence of the 

 barbules on a limited portion of each of the barbs. 



The Common Pea-fowl is distributed throughout India and Ceylon, ascending 

 the Himalayas to 2,000 feet and the hills in Southern India to 5,000 feet. It 

 inhabits the whole Assam valley up to Sadiya, but none are found in Sylhet, 

 Cachar, or Manipur. Males moult about September in N. India, and the train 



