THE PEACOCK. 153 



Characteristic marks. 



foot long and one line in breadth, of a blue, 

 changing to a bright green colour. Thus far 

 they greatly resemble the filaments of the pre- 

 ceding species, but they differ in their form, ter- 

 minating in a point, and having feathers only on 

 the middle of the interior side. The- middle of 

 the neck and of the breast is marked from the 

 throat by a row of very short feathers, exhibiting 

 a succession of small transverse lines, which are 

 alternately of a beautiful bright green, changing 

 to blue, and of a dark green like a drake. Brown 

 is the principal colour of the abdomen, rump, 

 and tail, a reddish yellow of the wings and the 

 feathers by which they are covered. Those of 

 the head are short, straight, close, and very soft 

 to the touch; it is a kind of a velvet of varying 

 colours, as in almost all the birds of Paradise, 

 upon a brown ground; the throat is covered with 

 the same kind of feathers, but the latter are 

 black, with reflections of gold and green. This 

 bird is rather larger than the other king of birds 

 df Paradise. 



THE PEACOCK. 



THIS master-piece of magnificence may justly 

 be called the handsomest of the feathered cre- 

 ation, having a tall majestic figure, and a bril- 

 liant plumage, in which are united all the colours 

 of the heavens and the earth. Its small, oblong 



VOL. III. NO. XIX. U 



