PEA FOWL. 347 



tain time they will never be found there at that special hour, 

 but will invariably make their inroads at daybreak. As a 

 last resource, I have tried ejecting them with every mark of 

 scorn and insult, such as 'harsh words, the cracking of whips, 

 and the throwing of harmless brooms. Most domestic animals, 

 and I believe many birds, are sensitive of disrespectful usage, 

 and would feel as a severe rebuke, the manner in which they 

 were thus turned out. But Pea Fowls are incorrigible ma- 

 rauders. - 



A mansion, therefore, whose fruit and vegetable garden is 

 at a distance, is almost the only place where they can be kept 

 without daily vexation. The injury they do to flowers is com- 

 paratively trifling ;; though, like the Guinea Fowl, they are 

 great eaters of buds, cutting them out from the axillae of leaves 

 as cleanly as a surgeon's dissecting-knife would. They must 

 also have a dusting-hole, which is large and unsightly; but 

 this can be provided for them in some out-of-the-way nook ; 

 and, by feeding and encouragement, they will soon be taught 

 to dispose themselves into a tableau vivant, at whatever point 

 of view the tasteful eye may deem desirable. No one with a 

 very limited range, should attempt to keep them at all, unless 

 confined in an aviary. But, where they can be kept at large, 

 they should be collected in considerable numbers, that their 

 dazzling effect may be as impressive as possible. Many gar 

 denless castles and country-houses on the Continent would lose 

 their semi-barbarous and semi-ruinous appearance, by employ- 

 ing these birds as an embellishment. For they are not less 

 pleasing to the eye than the Stork, which is so much encour- 

 aged j and they would render in great measure the same ser- 

 vices, namely, the destruction of small reptiles, with the advan- 

 tage of remaining at home all the year round. Willughby 

 gives a ludicrous quotation from Johannes Faber, in reference 

 to the serpent-eating propensities of the Pea Fowl, which is too 

 coarse, both in idea and expression, for modern republication, 



