Love Among the Birds 



More experimental evidence is needed before 

 we can be certain that the peahen — or any other 

 hen bird — is really impressed, or influenced in 

 her choice, by her lord's sometimes rather 

 grotesque antics. But that peahens are full of 

 sentiment, and capable of falling in love, admits 

 of no doubt. Only recently, a common peahen 

 (of the grizzly-white "Japan" variety) at the 

 Zoo lost her heart to the green Burmese peacock 

 next door, and quite neglected her proper mate, 

 as handsome a specimen of her own race as one 

 could wish to see. The Japanese, who know 

 both species, evidently regard the green peacock, 

 with his scaly plumage, and long lance-shaped 

 crest, as the most beautiful, as this one only 

 appears in their art work ; but it is curious to 

 find that a peahen of alien race may share this 

 view. It must be remembered that in a state 

 of nature the two species do not meet, as one is 

 western and the other eastern. 



But one of the most remarkable phenomena 

 about bird-love is this arising of curious attach- 

 ments between distinct, if allied, species, when 

 man brings them together. Geese, which over- 

 flow with tender feeling, are peculiarly liable to 

 form unlooked-for attachments ; and one between 

 a Canadian goose and a Bernacle gander has 

 been chronicled by no less an observer than 



Charles Waterton. Such devotion to a foreigner 



29 



