700 



PEACOCK 



" japanned " plumage, leading to the conclusion that the latter may 

 be due to " revei'sion to a primordial and otherwise extinct condi- 

 tion of the species," and it is to be observed that the " japanned " 

 male has in the coloration of the parts mentioned no little re- 

 semblance to that of the second indubitably good species, the 

 P. muticus (or P. spicifer of some writers) of Burma and Java, 

 though the character of the latter's crest — the feathers of which 

 are barbed along their whole length instead of at the tip only — and 



" Japanned " Peafowls. (.After Wolf iii Elliot's ' Fhasianida'.') 



its golden-green neck and breast furnish a ready means of distinc- 

 tion. The late Sir R. Heron was confident that the " japanned " 

 breed had arisen in England within his memory,^ and Darwin 

 (Anim. irnd Plants binder Domedic. i. pp. 290-292) was inclined to 

 believe it only a variety ; but its abrupt appearance, which rests on 

 indisputable evidence, is most suggestive in the light that it may 



^ This may have been the case as regai'ds England ; but I have a distinct 

 recollection of having seen a bird of this form represented in an old Dutch 

 picture, though when or where I cannot state. An instance of its sudden pro- 

 duction from the ordinary stock opcurred to my own knowledge as mentioned by 

 Mr. Darwin. c/. C-Ar^at^-Ja- 



