ORNAMENTAL FOWL. 71 



the baronial entertainments were characterized by grandeur and 

 pompous ceremonies, approaching nearly to the magnificence of 

 royalty, there was scarcely any noble feast without peacocks, 

 which were stuffed with spices and sweet herbs, roasted and 

 served up whole, and covered, after dressing, with the skin and 

 feathers. In our own times, both the young and the eggs are 

 often seen at the tables of the opulent. They are also reared as 

 picturesque accessories to the park or lawn, in which they will 

 breed and rear their young without assistance, and, with a little 

 attention, only in the winter. 



Peacock- shooting is a favourite amusement in India, where, in 

 some parts, they are extremely abundant. " About the passes in 

 the Jungletery district," says Colonel Williams, "I have seen 

 such quantities of peafowl, as have absolutely surprised me. 

 Whole woods were covered with their beautiful plumage, to 

 which a rising sun imparted additional brilliancy. I speak 

 within bounds, when I assert, that there could not be less than 

 twelve or fifteen hundred pea-fowl, of various sizes, within sight 

 of the spot, where I stood for near an hour." 



Like other birds of the poultry kind, the peacock feeds upon 

 corn, but its chief predilection is for barley. There is, however, 

 scarcely any food that it will not at times covet and pursue. In 

 the indulgence of these capricious pursuits, walls cannot easily 

 confine it. It strips the tops of houses of their tiles or thatch ; 

 it lays waste the labours of the gardener, roots up the choicest 

 seeds, and nips his favourite flowers in the bud. Thus its beauty 

 ill recompenses for the mischief it occasions, and many of the 

 most homely-looking fowls are very deservedly preferred before 

 it. One cock is sufficient for four hens. 



The peahen makes her nest on the ground, and seldom lays 

 above five or six eggs, in this climate, before sitting ; it is as- 

 serted, however, that she sometimes lays twelve. Her term of in- 

 cubation is thirty days. The chicks are very tender, the least cold 

 or wet being almost certain to kill them, and, therefore, they will 

 require to be tended with great care, similar to pheasants or 

 turkeys. The best food for them is new cheese or curd, prepared 

 from milk, with alum, ants' eggs, meal-worms, and hard-boiled 

 yoke of egg. When older, they will, like the old birds, feed on 

 boiled barley, or other grain of any sort. They are voraciously 

 fond of reptiles, and will keep a place clear of frogs, lizards, and 

 the like. When in moult, give them honey, wheat, coarse-ground 

 beans, and oats, with fresh water. In the forests, where they 

 breed in a wild state, they are numerous beyond expression. 



