THE PEACOCK 263 



usually given to barn-door hens to hatch. The food of the guinea- 

 fowl consists of grain and other substances usually given to ordinary 

 fowls, much natural or cultivated herbage, and largely subsists 

 upon ground insects and their larvae, in quest of which it roams 

 over much larger areas than domestic fowls. 



In large parks, farm and other homesteads surrounded by park- 

 like grassland with the usual accompaniment of trees in clump and 



FIG. 146. THE PEACOCK. 



belt, guinea-fowls may be tolerated. But in pleasure grounds and 

 flower gardens they scratch where they ought not and peck into 

 shreds the plants most fancied and desired to be kept intact, while 

 in kitchen gardens they ruin the crops. 



PEACOCK (Pavo cristatus). The peacock belongs to the sub- 

 family Pavoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae, and India 

 appears to be its natural habitat, but it is abundantly domesti- 

 cated in Europe. The male is the bird of " fine feathers," the 

 female, more sombre, presenting a striking contrast to the brilliant 



