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 



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