208 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



the peacock is the most prominent peculiarity of the species, but 

 there is also in both sexes another uncommon feather character 

 the curious little tuft, or crest (called the aigret), which grows 

 on the head. 



The surface color of the peacock is a marvelous blending of 

 purples, greens, golds, and bronzes of various hues. On the 

 head and neck purple tints predominate. The train is mostly 

 green with large, eyelike spots, or spangles, at the tip of each 

 feather. The plumage of the female is a soft brown on the body, 

 darkest on the back and shading to nearly white on the abdo- 

 men. The brown often shows slight tints of purple and green. 

 The neck and throat are a purple-green ; much less intense than 

 the coloring on the male. The young males are colored like the 

 females until they molt in their second year. Then they become 

 much darker, but it is not until the next molt, in their third year, 

 that they grow the characteristic train and take on the brilliant 

 coloration which is their greatest attraction. 



The wild peafowls in different parts of Asia vary somewhat in 

 color and are sometimes thought to be of different species, but 

 they are evidently all varieties of the same species. Specimens 

 of all are seen in domestication. One variety is almost black. 

 Domestic life has had little if any effect upon the type of pea- 

 fowls. A white variety has been produced, and from the mixture 

 of this with the green variety, birds that are partly white are 

 sometimes obtained. 



The significance of the terms "fowl," "cock," "hen," and 

 "chick," or "chicken," in combination with the "pea" in the 

 name of this bird is, of course, perfectly plain. Those who seek 

 further meaning in the first syllable are puzzled until they con- 

 sult the dictionary and find that the three letters as they occur 

 here are not the word " pea," but a contraction of pawa, which 

 was an Anglo-Saxon corruption of pavo, the Latin name of the 

 bird. While the original meaning of the name is not known, 

 the word came into the Latin language from the Greek, into 



