STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



the company. At wedding feasts the beak and throat of the buxl were filled 

 with cotton steeped in camphor, which was set on fire to amuse the guests. 

 Now and then, in our own day, the peacock makes his appearance as a 

 dainty dish on the occasion of some great banquet, but in ordinary circum- 

 stances it is never seen. 



Grand as the costume of the peacock is, he is a near relative of the barn- 

 door fowl, and feeds on grain in the same manner. But he is fickle in his tastes, 

 and there is hardly anything he will not seek after. He eats insects, pecks 

 off the tender buds of plants, roots up the seeds, and strips the cottage of 

 its thatch. 



In their native country whole flocks of peacocks are seen in the fields. 

 They are very shy, and run off the minute any one comes near them. They 

 are quicker than the partridge, and hide themselves in the thicket, where it is 

 impossible to find them. 



The fowler comes often into the thicket with a snare he has prepared to 

 entrap the bird. He has a banner, painted Avith a peacock on either side 

 and a lighted torch at the top. The peacock is frightened, and flies to what 

 he supposes to be one of his own kind, and is caught in a noose that hangs 

 for the purpose. 



The peacocks are distinguished, as a class, by the crest on the top of the 

 head, and the great length of the tail feathers, that can be raised and expanded, 

 and present the most beautiful picture in nature. 



THE PELICAN. 



There are some birds, as well as animals, about whom a great man\' fables 

 have been told. The pelican is one of these. 



He has a great pouch under the lower part of his bill, that can hold a 

 great many fishes. When he goes out on a fishing excursion he eats as much 

 as he likes, and puts the rest into his pouch for the family at home. 



His breast is snowy white, and the tip of the bill is red like blood ; so 

 that people have said the pelican feeds the young with his own blood 



