94 THE EASTERN OR BURMESE PEA-FOWL. 



to dense cover. At night, of course, it roosts upon trees, and 

 its call-note, like that of the Indian bird, which it closely 

 resembles, is a harsh mew, mew, mew, which one might fancy 

 to be the cry of some gigantic tom-cat in distress. 



Very little is on record about this species, and even Colonel 

 Tickell tells us next to nothing about it, but he writes so charm- 

 ingly, and wraps his nothing so nicely in silver paper, that I am 

 fain to quote what he says : — 



" The habits of Pavo mictions are so similar to those of its 

 congener as scarcely to admit of separate description ; but I 

 should say it was a still more strictly sylvan or forest-haunting 

 bird. Cultivation does not appear to entice it far from its leafy 

 fastnesses, as it does the Bengal species, and it is in con- 

 sequence more secluded, wilder, and difficult of approach, be- 

 sides being far less numerous. I have never seen more than 

 three or four of the Burman Pea-Fowl together, whereas the 

 Bengal species unite in flocks of 30, 40, or 50. It haunts the 

 thickest jungle, whether on level ground or on the sides of 

 small hills, and is frequently found in the masses of elephant 

 grass which so commonly skirt the smaller brackish creeks and 

 nallas of Arakan. A specimen with a full train is seldom seen 

 except in the beginning of the rains, which is the season of court- 

 ship. About August they moult, drop their long ocellated tail- 

 coverts, and assume the simpler green-barred ones. The train 

 appears again in the succeeding March or April ; but the 

 moulting of this bird appears to be irregular, and I have seen 

 cock birds with fine flowing trains in January and February. 

 The hen incubates in the rains, but at uncertain periods ; the 

 young just hatched have been brought to me at Moulmein at 

 different times, from August till January. The eggs cannot be 

 distinguished from those of the Bengal bird. 



" The best, and certainly the pleasantest, way of shooting these 

 birds is from a canoe, in the evening, when they come to the 

 water to drink. The vast forests in Amherst, one of the dis- 

 tricts of Tenasserim, are permeated by numerous streams, 

 which form the only practicable roads through many parts of 

 them. Such are the Houngthrau, the Wynyo, the Zummee, 

 the Ataran, and some others. Near the hills from whence they 

 issue these small rivers are beautifully clear, rippling over beds 

 of white sand, or clean rocks free from weed. And nothing can . 

 be more luxurious than to float down them with a couple of 

 Karens or Talains paddling now and then just sufficiently to 

 allow of steerage way, and with an old fellow squatted astern 

 at the helm. The air is cool on these crystal waters, and the 

 boat glides smoothly and silently along, while each turn of the 

 meandering stream brings some fresh beautiful prospect into 

 view. Now we pass beneath a lofty roof of verdure, where 

 giant trees on either side meet overhead, and, interlacing their 

 foliage, cast a green shadow on the limpid pool Bright flowers 



