ut about the sand beach just at the edge of the
jungle. At the sound of a gun or any other loud sharp noise the peacocks
would answer with their mournful catlike wail, exactly as the domesticated
birds will do.

The Chinese believe that the flesh of the peafowl is poison and our
servants were horrified when they learned that we intended to eat it. They
fully expected that we would not survive the night and, even when they saw
we had experienced no ill effects, they could not be persuaded to touch any
of it themselves. An old peacock is too tough to eat, but the younger birds
are excellent and when stuffed with chestnuts and roasted they are almost
the equal of turkey.

The species which we killed on the Salween River is the green peafowl
(_Pavo munticus_) which inhabits Burma, Sumatra, Java, and the Malay
Peninsula. Its neck is green, instead of purple, as is that of the common
Indian peacock (_Pavo cristatus_), and it is said that it is the most
beautiful bird of the world.

The long ocellated tail coverts called the "train" are dropped about August
and the birds assume more simple barred plumes, but the molt is very
irregular; usually the full plumage is resumed in March or even earlier.
The train is, of course, an ornament to attract the female and, when a cock
is strutting about with spread plumes, he sometimes makes a most peculiar
rustling sound by vibrating the long feathers.

The eight or ten eggs are laid on the bare ground under a bush in the dense
jungle, are dull brownish white and nearly three inches long. The chicks
are sometimes domesticated, but even when born in captivity, it is said
they are difficult to tame and soon wander away. The birds are omnivorous,
feeding on insects, grubs, reptiles, flower buds, young shoots, and grain.

The common peafowl (_Pavo cristatus_) is a native of India, Ceylon, and
Assam. It is held sacred by some religious castes and we saw dozens of the
birds wandering about the grounds of the temples in Benares, Agra, and
Delhi. Peafowl are said to be rather disagreeable pets because they often
attack infirm persons and children and kill young poultry.

In some parts of Ceylon and India the birds are so abundant and easily
killed that they do not furnish even passable sport, but in other places
they are as wild and difficult to shoot as we found them to be on the
Salween River. In India it is a universal belief among sportsmen that
wherever peafowls are common, there tiger w