12 GAME BIRDS Ot INDIA AND ASIA. 



in Sind, Guzerat, Cutch and Rajputana. In any 

 case, it is to be hoped that this magnificent bird 

 will be spared as much as possible by sportsmen 

 every wheie, since for its peculiar beauty it has no 

 rival, save the even more magnificent bird next 

 to be described. 



Peafowl are not so quarrelsome as most of this 

 family, for several cocks will show off together ; the 

 hens usually lay, in the rains, about ha.lf-a-dozen 

 eggs, of some shade of buff, and nearly three inches 

 long. The nest is of course rtsually on the ground, 

 but has been met with in elevated situations, and 

 it is worth knowing that the eggs are delicious 

 eating. 



Buff vai'ieties of this peacock have been met >.vith 

 in the wild state, and iii domestication it is some- 

 times white or pied, and at times produces a most 

 remarkable vaiiety, the Japan or black-winged 

 peacock (Pavo mgripennis of Sclater). In this 

 form the cock's wings and thighs are black, the 

 former being glossed with blue and green ; the 

 pinion-quills remain chestnut. The hen of the 

 variety is white, grizzled and splashed above with 

 black, with a black tail, and with chestnut pinion- 

 quills like the cock. The legs in botli sexes are 

 dirty white, not dark as in the normal form. The 

 variety is distinct from the egg, the chicks being 

 white, though the young cocks soon show dark 

 feathers. Were it not known definitely to ori- 

 ginate, in either sex, as a " sport ' ' from the 

 ordinary tame peafowl, this variety would cer- 

 tainly be ranked as a good species, since as a general 

 rule it breeds true, and even when smaller and 

 weaker, has been known ultimately to swamp the 



