Chap. VIII. PEACOCK. 307 



cases in Great Britain of japanned birds, having suddenly 

 appeared within recent times in flocks of the common pea- 

 fowl. This variety must also have formerly appeared 

 in Europe, for Mr. Canning has seen an old picture, and 

 another is referred to in the ' Field,' with this variety 

 represented. These facts seem to me to indicate that the 

 japanned peacock is a strongly marked variety or " sport," 

 which tends at all times and in many places to reappear. 

 This view is supported by the young being at first white 

 like the young of the white breed, which is undoubtedly a 

 variation. If, on the other hand, we believe the japanned 

 peacock to be a distinct species, we must suppose that in all the 

 above cases the common breed had at some former period been 

 crossed by it, but had lost every trace of the cross; yet 

 that the offspring of these birds suddenly and completely 

 reacquired through reversion the characters of P. nigripennis. 

 I have heard of no other such case in the animal or vegetable 

 kingdom. To perceive the full improbability of such an 

 occurrence, we may suppose that a breed of dogs had been 

 crossed at some former period with a wolf, but had lost every 

 trace of the wolf-like character, yet that the breed gave birth 

 in seven instances in the same country, within no great 

 length of time, to a wolf perfect in every character ; and we 

 must further suppose that in two of the cases, the newly 

 produced wolves afterwards spontaneously increased to 

 such an extent as to lead to the extinction of the parent 

 breed of dogs. So remarkable a bird as the P. Nigripennis, 

 when first imported, would have realized a large price ; it is 

 therefore improbable that it should have been silently in- 

 troduced and its history subsequently lost. On the whole 

 the evidence seems to me, as it did to Sir E. Heron, to be 

 decisive in favour of the japanned or black-shouldered breed 

 being a variation, induced by some unknown cause. On this 

 view, the case is the most remarkable one ever recorded of 

 the abrupt appearance of a new form, which so closely 

 resembles a true species that it has deceived me of the most 

 experienced of living ornithologists. 



