HABITS OF THE PEACOCK. 463 



the end of March, when the corn is standing, are remarkably juicy and tender. When the 

 dry season comes on, they feed on the seeds of weeds and insects, and their flesh becomes dry 

 and muscular." 



Peacock-shooting, although an exciting sport, is a dangerous one, the tiger feeling him- 

 self suited by the rhur and other vegetation in which the Peacock delights, so that an inex- 

 perienced sportsman may suddenly find himself face to face with a tiger, and run a strong 

 chance of being himself the object of pursuit. Old hunters, however, who know the habits 

 of the Peacock, find that bird extremely useful in denoting the presence of tigers. When the 

 Peacock finds itself in close proximity to a tiger, or even a wild cat, it raises the sound of 

 alarm, which is a loud hoarse cry, answered by those within hearing. The bird then utters a 

 series of sharp quick grating notes, and gets higher into the trees so as to be out of reach of 

 the tiger's claws. 



The Peacock is everywhere very common, and forms a magnificent adjunct to the lawn, 

 the -park, the garden, and the farm-yard. The evident admiration and self -consciousness with 

 which a Peacock regards himself are truly amusing, the bird always looking out for spectators 

 before it spreads its train, and turning itself round and round so as to display its beauties 

 to the best advantage. At night it always roosts in some elevated spot ; and invariably 

 sits with its head facing the wind. Several Peacocks, which I used to see daily, always 

 roosted upon the thatch of a corn-rick, their long trains lying along the thatch so closely 

 that towards dark they could hardly be seen. In character, the Peacock is as variable as 

 other creatures, some individuals being mild and good-tempered, while others are morose and 

 jealous to the extreme. 



One of these birds, living in the north of Ireland, was a curious mixture of cruelty and 

 fun. He had four wives, but he killed them all successively by pecking them to death, for 

 what cause no one could find out. Even its own children shared the same fate, until its o'.nier 

 put the Pea-fowl eggs under a sitting hen, and forced her to hatch the eggs and tend the 

 young far out of his sight. 



His great amusement was to frighten the chickens. There were two iron troughs in which 

 the food for the chickens was placed daily, and to which they always resorted as soon as their 

 food was poured into their troughs. No sooner had they all assembled than the Peacock 

 would erect his train, rattle his quills together with that peculiar rustling sound that is so 

 characteristic of these birds, and march slowly towards the chickens. The poor little birds 

 would slowly back away from the trough as the Peacock advanced, not liking to lose sight 

 of their food, and not daring to remain in defiance of their persecutor. By degrees he got 

 them all into a corner, crouching together and trembling, when he would overshadow them 

 with his train, place the ends of the feathers against the wall so as to cover them completely, 

 rattle the quills heartily so as to frighten them extremely, and then would walk off, looking 

 quite exultant at the trick he had just played. He did not care for eating their food, but left 

 the trough untouched. 



The train of the male Peacock, although popularly called its tail, is in reality composed 

 of the upper tail-coverts, which are enormously lengthened, and finished at their extremities 

 with broad rounded webs, or with spear-shaped ends. The shafts of these feathers are almost 

 bare of web for some fourteen or fifteen inches of their length, and then throw out a number 

 of long loose vanes of a light coppery -green. These are very brittle and apt to snap off at 

 different lengths. In the central feathers the extremity is modified into a wide flattened 

 battledore-shaped form, each barbule being colored with refulgent emerald-green, deep violet- 

 purple, greenish bronze, gold and blue, in such a manner as to form a distinct "eye," the 

 centre being violet of two shades, surrounded with emerald, and the other tints being arranged 

 concentrically around it. In the feathers that edge the train there is no "eye," the feathers 

 coming to a point at the extremity, and having rather wide but loose emerald-green barbules 

 on its outer web, and a few scattered coppery barbules in the place of the inner web. The 

 tail-feathers are only seven or eight inches in length, are of a grayish-brown color, and can be 

 seen when the train is erected, that being their appointed task. 



On the head is a tuft or aigrette of twenty-four upright feathers, blackish upon their 



