National Bird:Peafowl (Peacock, Peahen)

The term peafowl can refer to the two species of bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are best known for the male's extravagant tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen."Peacock" is an incorrect term when reffering to both sexes. The peahen is brown or toned grey and brown.

The two species are:
Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus (Asiatic) Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus (Asiatic) The Indian Peafowl is a resident breeder in the Indian subcontinent. The peacock is designated as the national bird of India.The Green Peafowl breeds from Myanmar east to Java. The IUCN lists the Green Peafowl as vulnerable to extinction due to hunting and a reduction in extent and quality of habitat.The Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus also known as Dragonbird is a large member of the Galliformes order. Some new data suggests that the Green Peafowl is actually several species (Kermit Blackwood et al.), though it is currently classified as a single species with three subspecies.While peafowl are often considered members of the pheasant family, recent molecular work has shown that the Phasianidae is paraphyletic, and that peafowl are not closely related to
pheasants, grouse or turkeys. They are distantly related to junglefowl and francolins however, and share a common ancestor with Coturnix quail and Alectoris Rock Partridges. While this has yet to be published, the World pheasant Association of Germany already lists peafowl as a distinct family [3].
Like other members of the genus Pavo, Green Peafowl is a colourful bird. Iridescent plumage may be a highly specialized form of crypsis that is useful in open forests and near water. Most predatory species like leopards and tigers, wild dogs, civets, owls and hawk-eagles that have been documented hunting peafowl do not have colour vision. Green Peafowls are found today in Southeast Asia in eastern most northern India, Assam, mainland Myanmar, Tibet, Yunnan, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and on the island of Java in Indonesia. They are curiously absent from both Sumatra and Borneo.