The Peacock {Pavo crlstatus) 

 By Gerard Alan Abbott 



Length : 33 inches, with tail 70 inches. 



Range : Native of India ; introduced in many countries. 



Common name : Peafowl. 



With pendant train and rustling wings, 

 Aloft the gorgeous peacock springs ; 

 And he, the bird of hundred dyes, 

 Whose plumes the dames of Ava prize. 



— Bishop Heber. 



A remarkable bird of the grouse family. Alexander the Great is credited 

 with having brought the common peafowl from India. In southeastern Asia 

 the peafowl is yet a game bird, and is hunted like our wild turkey. The male 

 or peacock is famous for a gorgeous train. The upper or covert feathers of 

 the tail are frequently four feet in length. When the peacock struts, gobbler 

 fashion, these feathers are erected and spread in a fan-like circle with a most 

 dazzling effect of brilliant green and gold. The tail itself is chestnut and re- 

 mains in an ordinary position. The neck and breast are colored with a pe- 

 culiarly rich "peacock" blue. The head carries a crest of about tw^enty-four 

 upright plumes. The total length of the bird from the point of its tail te the 

 end of its train is about six feet. The body proper is only about two feet in 

 length. The peahen is smaller and is modestly colored. The peafowl is now 

 domesticated thoroughly both in the Old World and the New. Among the 

 Greeks and Romans it was dedicated to Hera or Juno. In literature it is rep- 

 resented as the type of vain glory. Its flesh, like that of pheasants and grouse 

 generally, is excellent for table use. Its voice, like that of the guineafowl, is 

 exceedingly harsh, as though nature begrudged a sweet voice and brilliant plum- 

 age to the same bird. 



The peacock is a gorgeous bird. It prefers wooded mountains and jungles, 

 roosting in trees and making the nest on the ground. Often considered the 

 handsomest and proudest of all birds, the Greeks and Romans called it the 

 "Bird of Juno." When the male is in full plumage and spreads his magnificent, 

 fan-shaped tail it is a most dazzling spectacle. Both sexes are alike at first but 

 the male, in three years, gradually acquires the splendid plumage for which it is 

 noted. While it has been domesticated in many countries for centuries, it still 

 continues rather wary. In spite of its beauty and delicious flesh, it is not a 

 favorite domestic fowl for the reason that it is destructive to gardens, has a 

 loud, harsh cry, and has a proud unpleasant disposition. 



296 



