PEACOCKS. 
215 
to roost, and repeats the call frequently during the night, 
and, when disturbed, during the day. It is one of those 
birds that may be considered as only partially domesticated 
with us; for, though it occasionally associates with the 
poultry, and will come at all hours to be fed, yet, as Mr. 
Waterton"^ remarks, this bird has a most singular innate 
timidity, which never fails to show itself on the sudden and 
abrupt appearance of an object. I spent some months in 
trying to overcome this timorous propensity in the pheasant, 
but I failed completely in the attempt/^ 
Peacocks [Pavo] are exclusively natives of the East. At 
least two species of these large and handsome birds are 
known to naturalists. In their wild state they are found in 
close wooded tracts, where they can easily have access to 
water; they roost in trees. It must be a fine sight to see 
from twelve to fifteen hundred of these gorgeously-plumed 
birds together at a time, as described by Williamson, in his 
^Oriental Field Sports."* Peacock-shooting is one of the fa- 
vourite pastimes of our countrymen in the East. 
The Pintadoes form a subfamily of the Phasianidcc, cha- 
racterized by the naked head, the fleshy wattles at the base 
of the cheeks; the short hanging tail, and the feathers above 
* Essays on Natural History, first series, p. 98. 
