804 



Birds. 



V. Gallinaceous Birds. 



THE PEACOCK. (Pavo cristatus.) 



ASTONISHED at the unparalleled beauty of this bird, the 

 ancients could not help indulging their lively and creative 

 fancy, in accounting for the magnificence of his plumage. 

 They made him the favourite of imperial Juno, sister 

 and wife to Jupiter ; and not less than the hundred eyes 

 of Argus were pulled out to ornament his tail ; indeed, 

 there is scarcely anything in nature that can vie with 

 the transcendent lustre of the Peacock's feathers. The 

 changing glory of his neck eclipses the deep azure of 

 ultramarine ; and at the least evolution, it assumes the 

 green tint of the emerald, and the purple hue of the 

 amethyst. His head, which is small and finely shaped, 

 has several curious stripes of white and black round the 

 eyes, and is surmounted by an elegant plume, or tuft of 



