KING SOLOMON'S PEA FOWL. 



553 



seasons, to the middle of May in colder ones, and 

 seldom lays less than sixty eggs, going occasion- 

 ally as high as over a hundred, according to the 

 locality and supply of insect food : she continues 

 till about the end of August. This supposes 

 them to roost in a house, which they prefer to 

 do in really bad weather, and if brought up to it. 

 The eggs are rather small, with pointed ends, of 

 a very rich colour and fine flavour ; and if col- 

 lected fresh, sometimes find a good and regular 

 market at first-class shops, packed in dozen 

 baskets with a little moss, like the eggs of some 

 game birds. Of course the earlier eggs, in April 

 and early May, should be used for breeding, and 

 the Guinea hen herself seldom becomes broody 

 till late in summer, if the eggs are gathered 

 daily, leaving only one in the nest. If they 

 are to lay in the house, some pains should be 

 spent, as with turkeys, to arrange nests which 

 are not only secluded, but look naturally so : 

 otherwise care must be taken to regularly visit 

 all likely places about the farm. 



All writers have noticed the good qualities of 

 Guinea fowls as night-guards. No strange person 

 or noise escapes them ; and then their screaming 

 is not only effectual, but calculated of itself to 

 frighten off any evilly disposed marauder. 



The common Guinea fowl is now found wild in 

 the Cape de Verde Islands, and also in Jamaica, 

 to both of which there is no doubt it was taken 

 from Africa. Any covert, in a fairly warm and 

 dry locality, can be readily "swarmed" with them, 

 and they then become very wild and shy ; hence 

 many attempts have been made to utilise them 

 as game birds. Such attempts have, however, 

 always had to be given up, as the Guinea fowls 

 displaced all other game from the covert, while 

 themselves, as Mr. Hewitt wrote us long ago, 

 running before dogs like a corn-crake, and hence 

 affording no sport. They are essentially mere 

 domestic poultry, but suitable only for certain 

 markets and circumstances. 



Hybrids have occurred between the Guinea 

 fowl and common poultry : we knew of one with 

 a Dark Brahma hen. The progeny in all such 

 cases is of course very wild and perfectly sterile. 

 The Guinea cock has also been known to cross 

 with small turkey hens occasionally. None of 

 these results are of any practical interest. 



THE PEA FOWL. 

 If the references to the peacock in the two 

 parallel passages of Scripture, i Kings x. 22 

 and 2 Chron. ix. 21,* are correct translations 

 of the Hebrew Tnkiyynm, the bird has been 

 known from the earliest times ; and the question 



* The passage in Job xxxix. 13 has an entirely different 

 word, which probably refers to the ostrich. 



70 



invests the pea fowl with a Biblical, historical, 

 and geographical interest greater than can be 

 attached to any other bird, since upon its 

 answer depends the destination of Solomon's 

 voyages, and the locality of that Ophir to 

 which they are said to have been directed. 

 As every one of the various products named 

 in these verses except the Tukiyyun could 

 have been obtained from either Arabia, Africa, 

 or India, the whole of this interesting question 

 almost entirely depends upon what creature is 

 meant by the Hebrew word. This word has 

 been supposed by Hebrew scholars to be 

 derived from a foreign root, signifying " tufted," 

 or " crested " ; and although the Peacock is 

 crested, it has been objected that the crest is 

 far from being so conspicuous a characteristic 

 as the gorgeous plumes. Hence a crested 

 parrot has been conjectured by those who 

 would place Ophir in Africa ; but it does not 

 appear that the ancients were acquainted with 

 parrots, and much less with any crested parrot, 

 till long after. Besides other indications, how- 

 ever, which may point to Ophir being in the 

 East Indies, the natives of Malacca still call 

 their gold mines opiiirs (De Poivre); and in 

 Malabar the peacock is still called Togei, and 

 in one of the Indian dialects, Tikki, which 

 word furnishes a very probable origin for the 

 Hebrew Tfikiyyitn, and seems to show that 

 the name was brought along with the bird to 

 which it belonged, from the place of origin. 

 In such a case this is very likely to have 

 occurred ; that such a gorgeous bird should 

 be sought for and valued by a magnificent 

 monarch like Soloinon, who is expressly 

 stated to have taken special interest in natural 

 history, is highly probable ; and on all these 

 grounds, it is considered far the most likely 

 that Solomon really was nearly or quite the 

 first to import this beautiful bird from the 

 East, and that some southern region of the 

 Indies was the locality from which both it and 

 the other precious products enumerated were 

 procured. If such conclusions be correct, it 

 will be observed that they clearly point to 

 Solomon as the first importer of fancy poultry, 

 and, singularly enough, from the very same 

 region whence the most striking of our own 

 more modern varieties have been obtained. 



The pea fowl, as will be gathered from the 

 preceding paragraphs, is found exclusively in 

 Eastern Asia, in which it has, however, a pretty 

 wide range, extending through part of China, the 

 whole of India, and the adjacent islands. It is 

 found in three natural or wild varieties. 



The common pea fowl {Pavo cristatiis) is 

 so well known as scarcely to need description. 



