An Indian Blue Peacock in full display at Appleton Estate, Nassau Valley, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica:
The peafowl include three species of birds the blue or Indian peafowl originally of the Indian subcontinent, the green peafowl of Southeast Asia and, the Congo peafowl, native only to the Congo Basin.
Male peafowl are known for their piercing call and their extravagant plumage, especially prominent in the Asiatic species, who have an eye-spotted “tail” or “train” of covert feathers which they display as part of a courtship ritual. Charles Darwin suggested the elaborate iridescent coloration and large “train” of peacocks serves to attract females, and the showy features of the males had evolved by sexual selection.
The term peacock is properly reserved for the male; the female is known as a peahen, and the immature offspring are sometimes called peachicks.