THE PEAHEN. 



419 



quently it retires into solitude, to find there the calm and tranquillity 

 which such a critical state demands. The Wild Peahen lays from 

 twenty to thirty eggs in a hole hollowed in the ground ; the domestic 

 bird is less fruitful. To hide the nest from the searching eye of the 

 male, which breaks the eggs whenever opportunity offers, is one of 

 the female's first duties. Incubation lasts from twenty-seven to thirty 

 days. The young follow their mother from their birth, and attain 



Fig. 159. — Impeyan Pheasants. 



their full development in three years. The Peahen, like the Hen 

 Pheasant and the Common Hen, adopts the plumage of the male 

 when age has rendered her unfruitful. The Peacock lives from 

 twenty-five to thirty years ; some authors have wrongly attributed 

 to them the longevity of a century. 



Peacock Pheasants (Polyplectron) owe their name to the supera- 

 bundance of spurs with which they are armed ■ for the males always 

 possess two, sometimes three, on each limb. The plumage of these 

 birds, like that of Peacocks, is sprinkled with glittering ocellations ; 

 but their tails are shorter, and not susceptible of expansion. 



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