mi iiiiii Kinrev 



Pavo cristatus, Linne. 



VemaCUlar Names.— [Mor, Upper and Central India generally ; Ta-us (Muham- 

 madans, often), Lan-duri (Pea-hen), Mahratta Districts ; Menjur, Western Diiars, 

 &c. ; Mujur, Nepal Tarai ; Mabja (Bhutia) ; Mong-yung (Lepcha) ; Moir, 

 Moira, Assam ; Dode, Garo Hills ; Myl (Tamil) ; Nimili (Telugu) ; Nowl 

 (Canarese), Mysore.'] 



N Indian Bird par excellence, the Common Pea-Fowl, 

 though widely spread throughout India Proper, does 

 not normally extend elsewhere except into Ceylon 

 and Assam. 



Even within these limits it is not by any means 

 universally spread ; it likes water and cultivation, and 

 in no way shuns the abodes of men. But there 

 may be too much water, cultivation, and population to suit 

 its taste. For instance, though common enough in Midnapore 

 and Burdwan, it does not occur wild in the 24-Pergunnahs 

 (though a few have run wild from the Oudh Gardens in Garden 

 Reach) or in Jessore (unless possibly in the Sundarbans), or 

 in Nuddea, or in the greater part of Hooghly, and many other 

 districts might be mentioned in India Proper in which it is 

 either wanting or extremely scarce. 



It is not found really wild in Sind, though it has been intro- 

 duced, of late years, into the Eastern Nara Districts, and occurs 

 in a semi-domesticated state about Hyderabad and other places 

 in Lower Sind. It does not occur in the Punjab Trans-Indus, 

 nor does it, Colonel Graham assures me after careful enquiries, o- Q 

 eastwards beyond the valley of Assam. 



Sadiya appears to be its easternmost limit. " I have now 

 been," writes Colonel Graham, " over much of the country on both 

 banks of the Brahmaputra, for 40 miles east of Sadiya, and 

 have not seen a Pea-Fowl of any description, nor heard one. 



"I have further examined the Khamptis, Singphos, and 

 Digama Mishmis, coming from the east, and they deny the 

 occurrence of any Peacock in their direction. 



" The Common Pea-Fowl are all over Assam, but get very 

 much scarcer as you go eastwards, disappearing altogether 

 beyond Sadiya." 



Colonel Coomber says : — " The Pea-Fowl is common enough in 

 Assam. I have met with it in every district, and on both sides 

 of the Brahmaputra. I have seen no second kind. It is 



11 



