n sitting quietly for half an hour when we heard a scratching in the
jungle. Thinking it was a peacock feeding we turned our backs to the water
and sat motionless peering beneath the bushes. Meanwhile, Heller witnessed
an interesting little drama enacted behind us.

An old male peacock with a splendid train stole around the point close to
the water, jumped to a high stone within thirty yards of us and stood for a
full minute craning its beautiful green neck to get a better view as we
kneeled in front of him totally unconscious of his presence. After he had
satisfied his curiosity he hopped off the observation pinnacle and, with
his body flattened close to the ground, slipped quietly away. It was an
excellent example of the stalker being stalked and had Heller not witnessed
the scene we should never have known how the clever old bird had fooled us.

The following morning we got a peahen at the same place. Heller had
concealed himself in the bushes on one side of the point while I watched
the other. Shortly after daylight an old female sailed out of the jungle on
set wings and alighted at the water's edge. She saw Heller almost
instantly, although he was completely covered by the vines, and started to
fly, but he dropped her with a broken wing. Recovering herself, she darted
around the rocky point only to meet a charge of B.B.'s from my gun. She was
a beautiful bird with a delicate crown of slender feathers, a yellow and
blue face patch and a green neck and back, but her plumes were short and
inconspicuous when compared with those of the male.

Probably these birds had never before been hunted but they were exceedingly
shy and difficult to kill. Although they called more or less during the
entire day and we could locate them exactly, they were so far back in the
jungle that the crackling of the dry leaves made a stalk impossible. We
tried to drive them but were unsuccessful, for the birds would never flush
unless they happened to be in the open and cut off from cover. Apparently
realizing that their brilliant plumage made them conspicuous objects, the
birds relied entirely upon an actual screen of bushes and their wonderful
sight and hearing to protect themselves from enemies.

They usually came to the river to drink very early in the morning and just
before dusk in the afternoon, but on cloudy days they might appear at
almost any hour. If undisturbed they would remain near the water's edge for
a considerable time or str