THE PEACOCK. 



PLATE XXVII. 



Class Aves. Order IV. Gallinacea : resembling the hen. 



Genus Pavo. 



THE Peacock, by the common people of Italy, is said to 

 have the plumage of an angel, the voice of the devil, and the 

 guts of a thief. In fact, each of these qualities mark pretty 

 well the nature of this extraordinary bird. When it appears 

 with its tail expanded, there is none of the feathered creation 

 can vie with it for beauty ; yet the horrid scream of its voice 

 serves to abate the pleasure we find from viewing it ; and still 

 more, its insatiable gluttony, and spirit of depredation, make 

 it one of the most noxious domestics that man has taken 

 under his protection. 



Our first Peacocks were brought from the East Indies ; and 

 we are assured, that they are still found in vast flocks, in a 

 wild state, in the Islands of Java and Ceylon. So beautiful 

 a bird, and one esteemed such a delicacy at the tables of the 

 luxurious, could not be permitted to continue long at liberty 

 in its distant retreats. So early as the days of Solomon, we 

 find in his navies, among the articles imported from the east, 

 apes and peacocks. ^Elian relates, that they were brought 

 into Greece from some barbarous country, and were held in 

 such high esteem among them, that a male and female were 

 valued at about thirty pounds of our money. We are told 

 also, that when Alexander was in India, he found them fly- 

 ing wild, in vast numbers, on the banks of the river Hyarotis, 

 and was so struck with their beauty, that he laid a severe fine 

 and punishment on all who should kill or disturb them. Nor 

 are we to be surprised at this, as the Greeks were so much 

 struck with the beauty of this bird, when first brought among 

 them, that every person paid a fixed price for seeing it ; and 

 several people came from Athens, from Lacedaemon and 

 Thessaly, purely to satisfy their curiosity. 



