LETTER XXXV. 



To the same. 



SELBORNE, 1771. 



EAR SIR, Happening to make a visit to 

 my neighbour's peacocks, I could not help 

 observing that the trains of those magnificent 

 birds appear by no means to be their tails ; 

 those long feathers growing not from their 

 uropygium, but all up their backs. A range 

 of short brown stiff feathers, about six 

 inches long, fixed in the uropygium, is the real tail, and 

 serves as the fulcrum to prop the train, which is long and 

 top-heavy when set on end. When the train is up, nothing 

 appears of the bird before but its head and neck ; but this 

 would not be the case were those long feathers fixed only in 

 the rump, as may be seen by the turkey-cock when in a 

 strutting attitude. By a strong muscular vibration these 

 birds can make the shafts of their long feathers clatter like 



