554 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



The head, neck, and breast of the male are 

 a rich purple, with beautiful blue reflections, 

 the head having an aigrette or crest com- 

 posed of twenty-four feathers, which 

 Varieties ^''^ °"'y webbed at the tip, 

 of where they show blue and green 



Pea Fowl. reflections, j The back is green, 

 with a copper-coloured lacing 

 to the feathers ; the wings whitish, striped or 

 barred with black, gradually shading into deep 

 blue. The primaries and true tail-feathers are 

 a dark rich chestnut ; but the feathers of the 

 train are glossy green, ocellated at the tips. 

 These feathers, commonly called the " tail," 

 are not really tail-feathers, but tail-coverts, 

 springing from the back, the true tail being 

 under them, and serving to support them when 

 erected. The thighs are generally greyish, and 

 the belly and rump black. The eyes are dark 

 hazel, pearled round the edges, and legs brown, 

 spurred as in the common fowl. The neck is 

 very long, slender, and snaky, and the head 

 small in proportion to the body. The female 

 is much more subdued in colour, being of a 

 prevailing chestnut brown, variously shaded 

 on different parts of the body, and mottled 

 or shaded in places, especially about the wings 

 and tail, with dull or greyish white. She has 

 a crest like the male, but duller in colour and 

 not so tall. This variety is common through- 

 out India, Ceylon, and the adjacent islands. 

 In some parts of India Peacock-shooting is a 

 recognised sport ; while in others, and in some 

 parts of Ceylon, the birds are so plentiful as 

 to be cared little about. Colonel Williamson 

 writes : " In the Jungleterry districts, I have 

 seen such quantities of pea fowl as have ab- 

 solutely surprised me. Whole woods were 

 covered with their beautiful plumage, to which 

 a rising sun imparted additional brilliancy, and 

 I speak within bounds when I assert that 

 there could not be less than twelve or fifteen 

 hundred peafowl of various sizes within sight 

 of the spot where I stood for nearly an hour." 

 He also mentions the curious fact that wherever 

 Peacocks abound the tiger is generally found 

 also more near than convenient, so that 

 Peacock-shooting is by no means devoid of 

 danger. 



The Japanese Peacock {Pavo muticns) differs 

 considerably in colour and some other points 

 from the ordinary bird. The crest on the 

 head is nearly twice as long, and the feathers 

 of which it is composed are also webbed or 

 barbed from their bases, instead of only at 

 the tips. The colour of the neck is a glossy 

 green, margined or laced with coppery gold, 

 and arranged not as ordinary neck-feathers in 



most birds, but like the scales of a fish. The 

 metallic gloss is extraordinary, and far superior 

 to that on the other variety. On the back, 

 which is a rich copper-bronze marked with 

 bars of green and light brown, this lustre is 

 still more conspicuous. The shoulder-coverts 

 resemble those of the common bird, but are 

 a deeper and more intense blue ; the tail- 

 coverts or train are rich green, barred across, 

 or shot with gold and copper-bronze reflections. 

 In the breeding season, which commences about 

 March, these barred feathers are replaced by 

 other ocellated plumes, resembling those of the 

 Common Peacock, but with more bronze. The 

 hen is sober in colour, much like the preced- 

 ing variety. This magnificent Peacock inhabits 

 Burmah, Siam, Java, Sumatra, and Japan, but 

 is believed not to be found in India. The 

 two kinds breed freely, however, and the 

 progeny is fertile. 



The Black-Winged Peacock {Pavo 7iigripen- 

 nis), was believed by Dr. Sclater **■ to be a 

 distinct species, on the ground that it pro- 

 pagates true to points. It differs from the 

 Common Peacock chiefly in the dark colour 

 of the ^'ings, from which it takes its name, 

 but the thighs are also of the same dark tint ; 

 the hens, on the contrary, are almost white, 

 with dark tails. Mr. Darwin has, however, 

 shown almost conclusively that it is merely 

 a " sport " from the Common, which has been 

 recorded on many occasions, and is probably 

 due to domestication. To the same cause are 

 due the white and pied sports occasionally seen. 

 Pea fowl are so rarely thought of now as 

 table poultry, that it is remarkable how most 

 historical notices of the bird are from a gastro- 

 nomic point of view. A favourite 

 Domestic dish of Vitellius was partly com- 



PeaFowl. posed of the brains of Peacocks; 

 and Columella gives full directions 

 for their management. In 1254 Henry III. 

 offered a Peacock as a prize for " running at the 

 quintain." The whole bird was considered a 

 dainty dish, and a " pecok enhakyll " (mean- 

 ing with the train-feathers) is named by Fabian 

 as one of the dishes at the wedding-feast of 

 Henry VI. From a curious old MS. in the 

 Library of the Royal Society, we quote the 

 recipe for this noble dish, as follows : " For 

 a feste royal, pecokkes schol be dight on this 

 manere: Take and flee off the sk}-nne, with 

 the fedures, tayle, and the neck and head 

 thereon. Then take the skynne and all the 

 fedures, and lay it on a tabel abrode, and 

 straw thereon grounden comyn. Then take the 

 pecok and roste hym, and endore him with 



* "Proceedings of Zoological Society," April 24th, iS6q, 



