INDIAN PEAFOWL

PAINTED STORK : Pavo cristatus R Village hen+: Male c. 92-122 cm without train in full plumage; Female 86 cm. Hen also crested like cock but smaller, mottled brown with some metallic green on lower neck. No train. Moist- and- dry –deciduous forest, cultivation and precincts of villages . Subcontinent east of the Indus, up to c. 1800 m; Sri Lanka. Introduced in Sind and Andaman Is.

Local Names: MOR, MANJUR, MAYURA-HINDI; MAYUR-BENGALI; MUR(SIND); MOR MALE LANDOR—FEMALE—MAHARASHTRA; MANJA MALE, MANIA-FEMALE—ORISSA; MABJA-BHUTIA; MONGYOUNG-LEPCHA; MOIRA-ASSAMEE; WAHONG-MANIPUR; DODE- GAROMAYIL-MALAYALAM; MONARA-SINHALA; NEMALI-TELUGU; NAVILU-KANNADA; MOR-MALE, DHEL-FEMALE—GUJARAT.
Size : Vulture.
Field Characters: The gorgeous oscillated ‘tail’ of the adult cock, 1 to 1.5 m long, is in reality the abnormally lengthened upper tail coverts. Hen, also crested like cock but smaller; mottled brown with some metallic green on lower neck, and lacking the ornamental train. Parties or droves, in deciduous forest. Also locally semi-domesticated about villages and cultivation, where protected by religious sentiment.
Distribution : Throughout the Indian Union, locally up to 1800m in the Himalayas; Sri Lanka; Bangladesh Replaced in Myanmar by the species P. muticus with a pointed crest.
Habits : Inhabits dense scrub and deciduous jungle—plain and foothill preferably in the neighborhood of rivers and streams. Polygamous; usually parties of one cock with 4 to 5 hens, but seasonally of the sexes separately. always excessively shy and alert. slinks away through the undergrowth on its legs, and flies only when suddenly come upon, or to cross a ravine or open river bed. roots at night in large trees.
Food :Grain, vegetable shoots, insects, lizards, snakes, etc.
Call: a loud harsh, screaming may-awe, and short gasping shrieks ka-ann repeated rapidly 6 to 8 times with a pumping action of a head and neck. Cock displays before his bevy of hens erecting and fanning out his showy train, and strutting and posturing to the accompaniment of paroxysms of quivering.
Nesting Season:January to October. Nest-a shallow scrape in the ground in a dense thicket, lined with sticks and leaves. eggs- 3 to 5, gloosy pale cream or cafe-au-lait colour.