Ornithological and Other Oddities 



other and some young cocks of the year whom 

 they evidently mistook for hens ; while one 

 wasted his gold and scarlet splendour in vain 

 attempts to impress a pied jackdaw, the cheekiest 

 bird in that aviary, and one who is no respecter 

 of persons, however well-dressed. This determi- 

 nation to swagger at any price has always been 

 supposed to be the especial prerogative of the 

 peacock, and certainly Sir Petitpas does seem to 

 have an eye to an audience for his dance, as his 

 fellow-countrymen in India call the display. 



" Praise the proud peacock, he expands his train ; 

 Keep silence, and he pulls it in again," 



said Ovid, twenty centuries ago, and a lady told 

 me recently that if you clapped your hands to the 

 Battersea Park peacock he distinctly appreciated 

 it, and besides, liked to accumulate a few specta- 

 tors before he began to show. At Battersea I 

 once witnessed a funny episode myself. The 

 peacock was executing the usual step-dance 

 before a small but appreciative audience, when 

 the peahen, either getting jealous or feeling 

 that imitation was the sincerest flattery, started 

 displaying on her own account — almost the only 

 occasion on which I have seen the hen do so, 

 though the ridiculous exhibition of the hobble- 

 dehoy peacock, as yet untrained in a double 



sense — is not at all an uncommon sight. 



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