THE JAVANESE PEACOCK. 153 



of all the descriptions previous to that of Dr Shaw 

 in the Naturalist's Miscellany, which, with his figure, 

 are also taken from an Indian drawing. The first 

 living specimen seen in modern days was one which 

 Le Vaillant noticed in a menagerie at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and of which he forwarded a descrip- 

 tion to M. Temminck, who describes it, and gives a 

 sketch of the head and crest in his Histoire Natu- 

 relle des Pigeons et Gallinaces. M. Vieillot next gave 

 a figure in his " Galerie," from specimens in the 

 Paris Museum, under the title of P. speciferus ; and 

 Mr Wilson has given two representations from spe- 

 cimens in the Edinburgh collection ; while, lastly, a 

 beautiful wood-cut appeared in the *' Gardens and 

 Menagerie of the Zoological Society." Not much, 

 or rather nothing, is known of its habits ; but there 

 is nothing in its form that would indicate any great 

 or important variations from those of the common 

 bird. It inhabits Java and Sumatra, and also the 

 Continent of India, the two specimens in the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens having been received from the Bur- 

 mese Territory ; and it is probable that its distribu- 

 tion over the mainland, and the great Eastern Archi- 

 pelago, will be found more extensive as research 

 proceeds. 



The most striking distinction in this species is 

 the crest, which, instead of being composed of a 

 naked shafted feather, with a round and eyed tip, 

 as in the common bird, has these plumes of nearly 

 an uniform breadth. Another prominent mark is 



