84 THE COMMON PEA-FOWL. 



thought he must be going mad, floods of reminiscences of 

 enchanted princes, fairy tales, wehr-wolves, and the like, 

 flashed like lightning through his mind. The next, he saw 

 a man very cleverly got up in a leopard skin, with a well- 

 stuffed head, and a bow and arrows in one paw, standing before 

 him. 



From this man he learnt that he was a professional fowler, and 

 that thus disguised he always pursued Pea-Fowl, as whenever 

 able to get anywhere near them, they always allowed him to 

 approach near enough to shoot them with his bow, or at times 

 even to seize them with his hands. 



Great numbers are noosed and snared by native fowlers, who 

 imitate the cry of the male to perfection. In doing this, the 

 fowler usually places one hand on his mouth and evolves the 

 sound, apparently, from the depths of his chest. 



The Pea-Fowl is at times omnivorous, and land-shells, insects 

 of all kinds, worms, small lizards, and even tiny frogs may be 

 found in their crops, but by choice I think they feed on grain 

 and tender juicy shoots of grass and flower-buds, and I have 

 scores of times examined their stomachs without finding a 

 trace of anything else, although, had they been so minded, 

 animal food of all kinds abounded around them. 



Where numerous, they do much damage to cultivation, and 

 being excessively fond of the buds of trees, are also very de- 

 structive to young plantations. 



Nothing can be more charming than Colonel Tickell's account 

 of this species : — 



" Although Pea-Fowl are scattered over the forests of Central 

 and South-Central India, they are much more numerous in the 

 Trans-Gangetic provinces, and all along the Tarai. p In the nor- 

 therly parts of Tirhoot, on the Nepal frontier, I have seen up- 

 wards of fifty or sixty on the wing at a time, making for the 

 forests when roused up by our elephants. So common, indeed, 

 is this bird in the parts of India above enumerated, and so tame, 

 and so much do the natives dislike their being killed, that the 

 sportsman seldom molests them. Nevertheless, a Peachick is 

 by no means to be despised on the table, and an old bird, cock 

 or hen, furnishes grand stock for a tureen of good soup. 



" To the south of the Ganges, the Peacock confines himself 

 entirely to the wooded and hilly tracts, especially near cultiva- 

 tion, feeding at daybreak and dusk, and withdrawing at other 

 times into the thickest jungle. In these countries — Rajmehal, 

 the Daman-i-koh, Beerbhoom, Midnapoor, Chota Nagpore, Singh- 

 bhoom, and so on, south to Sambalpur and Cuttack — it is as 

 shy and wild as in Northern India it is tame and confiding ; in 

 fact, it is almost as difficult to stalk a deer as an old Peacock, 

 and in my earlier years in India many a weary hour of profitless 

 labour have I spent in endeavouring to creep within shot of 

 some splendid fellow whose glorious train excited my ornitho^ 



