P E A C O C K SHOOTING. 9 9
Pea fowU arc nol to be founi wlllnn a Urge circuit avottml Calcutta; tl.cir
general rcndezvo,,» . c c . s to be in the Junglc.cr r y .li»tr,ct. tm ccd they arc to be
h more or less in all cover,, such as I have above <lcscr,bc<l, and espccally
I I H r l t . ; ,it.le inbabited. A„ tbc 3nngle. in tl.c Nabob o fOndc.
L - r i t o r i c , are fnll of tben, ; bnt I do not recollcet ever bavn.g ,con one n, all
e great island, fonned by the junction of ,l,c Ganges wU the H o ^ ,
rive ® through ,vbich so many streams pass to the sea. and winch arc known
b y tbc designation of tbe delta of the Gauges.
I t „ill appear curions, but it is very certain, that peacocks have often
been huntecl and run down by borsenten. The h,ct ,s, that .be wn,gs o a
pcaeoeU are by no means proportioned to the great w c g h t of ,ts body and bn,b ;
'besides, they L not accuston.cd to long llights. an,I hen,g of a very tlursty
habit, are soon out of wind. When a bird is discovered ,n a tree stand,ng „ a
„ h i , , which is frequently the ease, when ga,ne is abundant, a person „,ou,,ted
on a'lolerably active and governable horse, being also pro.i.lcd ,v,th a lash
whip, may, after keeping as near as poss.ble during the first n,ght, and urg,ng
the bird when it lights to it, ut.nost cKcrtion, so co,nplelely lal.gue tl, as to
find some opportnn.ty for whipping, and perhaps entangle tbe ,vh,p so as to
obtain a co.nplcte com„,a„d. If a dog he at band, success ,, more eer a,„. The
peacock docs not very easily ascend into the a,r, especally when r,ghtc, d. 11
,o,vever, tbe bird gets a,nong eovc,-, it n,u,t be closely watchcd, else the first
substantial l,nsh into which it can crecp, will serve it for a shelter, and oecas.on
i b e hoi-seman to lose his gauie.
T h o u r f , pea fowls invariably roosi in trees, yet they make their nests on tbe
S-roond and ordinarily on a bank ,-aised above tbe eo,n,n„u level, wfiere, „ , so,ne
sufficient bnsh, they collect leaves, small sticks, &c. and sit vc-y close I have
on several occasion, seen them in tbeir nest,, hut as I retVained l,-om d,sturbmg
then, they did not od'cr to utove, although they couhl not la,l to know that
they were di,covc,-ed. They usually sit on about a do^cn or filtcen eggs ; b,,t
IwUl not venture to state what is tbeir ter,„ of incAat.on. Tbe old h„-ds
may often he seen leading ont broods of a do.en or more of eh.cks. J hey are
o-en'erally hatched ,d»ut the beginning of November ; and 1,-om .lanuary to the
end of March, when the corn is standing, arc remark,d,ly ju,cy and tender.
When the dry season come, on, they feed on the seeds of weeds, and ,nsect, ;
and their dcsb becomes dry and ,nuscular.
D u r i n - the cold season every litllc unf requented puddle wdl at times be visited
b y every",Icsc-iption of wihl fowl. Geese, dneks, te,d, wigeons, &c. are oltcn
in such nnn,bc,-s as absolutely to covcr the surface. To give an ,dea of tl,e,r nu
bc-s 1 will State that, being at Bogisongolah, where there are many tanks and
ieels formed' by the remains of the annual inundations, I 11,-cd ahnost at randcn
„ n o n g smue leal that were so thick on the water as scarcely to let the clement
be seen and with a single ,r„eha,-ge fro,n a co,nraon fowling piece, at ,d,out lorty
yards distance, I killed no less than eighteen, all of which I obtained, bcs.dcs
wounding at least as many more, whieh, either by ,lriving, and ilitting about,
or that fell in the fields around the tank, evaded the search of „,y servants.
I t is curious that many sorts of ducks, sneh as the sect//, or wbistlcr, as w,.|l
as the wigeon, both roost and buihl in trees. With regar,l to storks, cranes,
hc-ons, &c. which in all tbeir varieties ai'c to be seen in liengal, they aUvays
do ,0. The British fowler will, however,- be surpriscl to lean, that the red
partridge, such as is cou,u,on in Englaud, though it ,loe, not hnihl, yet is very
oft™ to be foun,l inwoodsand plantalions, up a,nong the boughs, calling lustily,
and see,ni„g lo enjoy its elevation! Quails and tlorikens, on the contrary, invariably
eonline themselves to the gi'ound.
The,-c are various kinds of hawks, \vhich arc exceedingly troublescne to the
sporlsman. The spar,-ow hawk is particularly hohl, a,i,l will often accotnpany,
hovering over ihe dogs, and inli„,idating the game fro,n rising. .Shonhl a ptjor
hii-d take llighl, it has hut little chance of escape; fo,-, if Ihe gun fiiil, the bawk
is almost certain of bis ai,n ! ludeed it often occu,-s when a partri,lge, ,p,ail, or
snipe i, killeil by the ,hot, that the hawk ^vill stoop a,„l ear,-y it oil', before a
servant or a dog can get up to secui-e it. As I eonnnonly used a double liarrel,
these interlopers son,etimcs got a wonnd, which, if it ,lid not kill, generally eansed
restitution : hut they a,-e inconceivably i„,me,-o„s in son,e |)laces, and their
cunniug is wouilc-ful. I have frciucntly had three or four atteniling n,c, \vhich
gene-ally kept aloof fro,n my range, or wonhl perhaps sit upon so,ne ,uou,„l.
Tbey com,no,dy eari-icd ofl' all those wbicb I ,uissed, as well as a port.'
what I killed.
The natives keep the midille sized grey ha,vk, known by the na,ne of the
bm,z, for the purpose of hovering over ducks, &c. whieh will not ri,e on such
occasions; thn, any ,iuantily of wild fowl may he killc.l on small waters, where
t h e y cannot swim to such a distance as lo he out of rcaeh. If the himz attempt
to pounce anrong them, all arc under water instantly. There is a larger spcces
of hawk called tbc b gm, extremely strong and bold : it kills bares w,th case,
and is f,-equenlly sent in chase of the larger kinds of water fowl. They will
even attack the cjnis, of which a pair arc represented in the annexe,! Plate.
These l.irds arc of a beautiful form, of a ligllt lea,! colour, w,th t!,e bea.l a„,l
aboul th,-ee or four inches down the ncek, of a rich erl,nson. The,r beaks are
ve,-y short in proportion to their si», not being more thau four or five Inches
in ien,-th. The cgms is to be seen in very large llights on tbe sa„,l, „, tbe great
,-ive,-s, and in the shallow,/«/«. Their scream is very shr,ll a„,l loud, and on „
still night it may be heard from two to three miles off. They stand at least s,x
feet high to the crown of their heads.
When the bawk is sent in pursuit of the ajrus, or of the mamckjmr, curmkecl,
or any of the larger aquatie birds, he is compelled lo make a very w,de crcle,
and to mount spirally, lessening his range as he gets higher. The cjr» ean
mount almost in a perpendicular direction ; but it woul d appear that ,n so doing
so
of