G A L L I N I D JE. 



08 1 



in the mere ostentation of expense as in the real gra- 

 tification even of the palate, they were even in great 

 demand for the more splendid "feasts, and rose to a 

 most exorbitant price. When the Roman emperors 

 had lost even the savage virtues of the earlier ages, 

 in more ostentatious dissipation, they took a pride in 

 having at their tables large dishes wholly composed 

 of the heads and brains of peacocks, for the introduc- 

 tion of which there could be no imaginable motive 

 but the great expense. With the epicures of modem 

 times, the peacock is in small favour; and though the 

 young are eaten, but not much in request, the full 

 grown birds are not. Their flesh is tough, and has 

 not A very agreeable flavour. The hardness of the 

 flesh has, however, one advantage (if advantage it can 

 be called) in hot climates, it resists putrefaction longer 

 than the flesh of almost any other animal. 



In the American continent, or even in Africa, there 

 is no trace whatever of these birds as natives, but 

 they have been introduced into both. The Portu- 

 guese, when they had the ascendant both in India 

 and in Africa, introduced them into the latter country, 

 where they were highly prized by the native princes. 

 At later periods of history they have been introduced 

 into various parts of America arid the West Indian 

 islands. In all countries they are regarded more in 

 the light of mere ornaments than of any thing else. 



Though these birds are hardy ;n enduring the 

 weather, they are very sensitive to its changes, and 

 give note of some of those before there are any indi- 

 cations which are palpable to the majority of the 

 human race. In summer the screaming of peacocks, 

 especially towards the close of the day, is understood 

 to prognosticate rain, and they are not the only birds 

 which naturally perform this sort of augury. 



THE THIBET PEACOCK (P. Thibetamis of Linnaeus) 

 ought perhaps to be referred to another genus, and 

 Temminck has done so, designating it by the generic 

 name of Polyplectron, and specifically as Polyplectron 

 chinquis. Cuvier, however, retains it in the genus 

 Pavo, to which it is certainly allied. Its colour on 

 the upper part is a bluish black, with metallic lustre ; 

 the feathers being bordered with golden green, be- 

 yond which there is a fringed margin of deep black. 

 The top of the head is covered with short feathers of 

 a soft velvety texture, of a golden green colour with 

 blue reflections ; and these feathers are surmounted 

 by a tuft of twenty long and thread-shaped feathers 

 with whitish shafts, and a row of bluish green points 

 along each side, which give the crest the appearance 

 of being toothed. The colour of these lateral points 

 of the crest is very brilliant. The neck, the throat, and 

 the lower part of the breast, are of a greenish blue of 

 a very bright lustre, the feathers having at the end a 

 gold coloured eye-spot bordered with bright blue. 

 The lesser and middle coverts of the wings are green 

 with blue reflections ; and the larger coverts are 

 greenish black, bordered with golden green. The 

 quills are yellowish maroon, with the shafts and tips 

 greenish black. The upper tail-coverts are bright 

 golden green marked across with cheveron bars of a 

 yellowish colour ; the tail-feathers bright green 

 covered with brown. The under parts are black, 

 with golden reflections; and the bill and feet are 

 black. The secondary quills are ornamented with 

 very brilliant blue spots, and the produced upper 

 coverts of the tail with similar spots of green, two 

 upon each feather ; but the feathers are not nearly 

 so much produced as those of the common peacock. 



These birds are singularly beautiful ; they are less 

 than the common peacock, but larger than pheasants. 

 They are found in the mountainous country between 

 India and the Chinese territory ; and, according to 

 some of the authorities, they are also found farther 

 south, in the Malay peninsula, and also in the islands. 

 One of their most remarkable peculiarities is the 

 number of spurs on the tarsi of the male, which are 

 sometimes as many as six upon one leg ; and there 

 are often more on the one leg than on the other. The 

 feathers of the tail are erectible and may be expanded 

 like a fan, in the same manner as those of the pea- 

 cock ; but though there are more eye-spots on the 

 single feathers, the appearance altogether is not nearly 

 so splendid. The plumage of the female is much less 

 brilliant than that of the male, and the tail-feathers 

 are not nearly so long. The young birds are of an 

 earthen grey colour, with lines and spots of brown. 

 After the first moult, the colours are not so broken 

 and irregular, and the positions of the spots on the 

 wings and tail can be traced. After the second moult, 

 they become more distinct and better defined, and 

 display the rich gold and blue and green, which are 

 so ornamental in the mature birds. It is not, how- 

 ever, till after the third moult that the colours attain 

 their highest perfection. Even in the state of nature 

 this species is by no means wild ; and when in con- 

 finement, it is very soon reconciled to its condition, 

 and breeds as freely as any other of the race. Alto- 

 gether it is a very beautiful and highly interesting 

 bird. The quality of its flesh as an article of domes- 

 tic economy has not been mentioned, but the proba- 

 bility is that, from the similarity of the general 

 appearance, it may in the adult state partake of the 

 harshness of that of the common peacock. 



Varieties of the peacock have been mentioned as 

 occurring in the East of larger size and more brilliant 

 plumage than the common variety found in Europe ; 

 but the probability is that they are only accidental, or 

 at most caused by a more congenial climate ; for it 

 has been noticed that peacocks in the north of Scot- 

 land are inferior in point of beauty to those of the 

 warmer parts of England ; and it is known that those 

 which are met with in Norway and Sweden are 

 smaller in size, and less beautiful in plumage than in 

 the south of Europe. 



THE JAPAN PEACOCK (P. muticus of Linnaeus) 

 appears, however, to have some distinct characters. 

 We might indeed expect this from the simple fact of 

 its being a native of the Japan isles ; for it should 

 seem that there is nothing native in those singular 

 islands, whether animal or vegetable, exactly like the 

 productions of any other country, how much soever 

 it may agree with them in its common generic cha- 

 racters. The Japan peacock is very nearly of the 

 same size and general character with the common or 

 Indian one; and like that, it has the tarsi armed with 

 a spur on each. The crest, however, is of a different 

 character, being composed of ten graduated feathers, 

 which are reflected backwards. The cry is also dif- 

 ferent from that of the common species. We are not 

 aware that any living specimen of it has been, at least 

 of late years, brought to Europe. 



LOPHOPHORUS. This genus, which has no very 

 accurate English name, is an inhabitant of the moun- 

 tainous parts of the north of India. The characters 

 are: the head surmounted by a crest, consisting of 

 detached silky feathers of unequal length, and reflected 

 backwards ; the tail is rounded, and the coverts are 



