PEACOCK 699 
where the Patella is reduced to a small ossicle within the tendon, 
its function being taken by the greatly-developed pyramidal pro- 
cessus tibialis anterior, and in Podicipes and Hesperornis, where it 
is almost as large as the cnemial process with which it freely 
articulates. 
PEACOCK (the first syllable from the Latin Pav, in Anglo- 
Saxon Pawe, Dutch Paauw, German Pfau, French Paon), the bird 
so well known from the splendid plumage of the male, and as the 
proverbial personification of pride. A native of the Indian penin- 
sula and Ceylon, in some parts of which it is very abundant, its 
domestication dates from times so remote that nothing can be posi- 
tively stated on that score. Setting aside its importation to Pales- 
tine by Solomon (1 Kings x. 22; 2 Chron. ix. 21), its assignment 
in classical mythology as the favourite bird of Hera or Juno testifies 
to the early acquaintance the Greeks must have had with it; but, 
though it is mentioned by Aristophanes and other older writers, 
their knowledge of it was probably very slight until after the con- 
quests of Alexander. Throughout all succeeding time, however, it 
has never very willingly rendered itself to domestication, and, retain- 
ing much of its wild character, can hardly be accounted an inhabit- 
ant of the poultry-yard, but rather an ornamental denizen of the 
pleasure-ground or shrubbery ; while, even in this condition, it is 
seldom kept in large numbers, for it has a bad reputation for doing 
mischief in gardens, it is not very prolific, and, though in earlier 
days highly esteemed for the table,’ it is no longer considered the 
delicacy it was once thought. 
As in most cases of domestic animals, pied or white varieties of 
the ordinary Peacock, Pavo cristatus, are not unfrequently to be 
seen ; and, though lacking the gorgeous resplendence for which the 
common bird stands unsurpassed, they are valued as curiosities. 
Greater interest, however, attends what is known as the “ japanned ” 
Peacock, often erroneously named the Japanese or Japan Peacock, 
a form which has received the name of P. nigripennis, as though it 
were a distinct species. In this form the cock, beside other less 
conspicuous differences, has all the upper wing-coverts of a deep 
lustrous blue instead of being mottled with brown and white, while 
the hen is of a more or less greyish-white, deeply tinged with dull 
yellowish-brown near the base of the neck and shoulders. It 
“breeds true”; but occasionally a presumably pure stock of birds 
of the usual coloration throws out one or more having the 
1 Classical authors contain many allusions to its high appreciation at the most 
sumptuous banquets ; and medieval bills of fare on state occasions nearly always 
include it. In the days of chivalry one of the most solemn oaths was taken ‘‘on 
the Peacock,” which seems to have been served up garnished with its gaudy 
pluinage. 
