CRESTED PEACOCK. 143 



Variegated Peacock. Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 671. 1. 



Yar. . corpore toto albo. 



With the body entirely white. 



Pavo cristatus albus. Eriss. Orn. 1. 288. Gmel. Syst. Nat. I. 



73O. Lath. Ind. Orn. . Q\J.Temm. Gall. Ind. p. 652. 

 Le Paon Wane. fiw/". Ois. 2. 323. Temm. Go//. (8t>o.) 2. 



p. 46. 

 White Peacock. Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 672. 1. 



THIS most splendid and magnificent bird is a 

 native of India, and in its wild state has the fol- 

 lowing character : its length from the tip of the 

 beak to the end of its tail is about four feet : its 

 head is adorned with a crest, consisting of twenty- 

 four feathers, which are only webbed at their tips, 

 where they are of a fine rich golden-green colour j 

 their shafts are whitish : above and beneath the 

 eye is a streak of white : irides yellowish : the 

 head, throat, neck, and breast, are green-gold, 

 glossed with copper-coloured reflections : the back 

 and rump the same, but more cupreous : the w r ing- 

 coverts deep blue, glossed with green and gold t 

 the belly and vent are dusky, tinged with greenish : 

 the tail is of a grey-brown, edged with reddish- 

 grey, and hidden beneath a train of the most ele- 

 gant and enchanting colours, which arises upon 

 the "back ; the two middle feathers of which it is 

 composed are frequently upwards of four feet and 

 a half in length, the others gradually diminishing 

 on each side, and forming, when expanded, a su- 

 perb fan of the most resplendent hues : the shafts 

 are white, and are furnished from their origin, 

 nearly to the end, with divided iridescent barbs ; 



