THE PEACOCK. 



Sensible to admiration. 



and elegance of their dress; for, like them, he is 

 almost useless-, his flesh heing dry, hard, and 

 without the flavour of that of other domestic 

 birds. His beauty also is short-lived, as his brU- 

 liant plumage drops off every year. Then, a$ 

 if sensible of his loss, he appears afraid of being 

 seen in that humiliating situation, and seeks the 

 most obscure retreats to conceal himself, till the 

 returning spring decks him out in his accustomed 

 dress, and again brings him forward to enjoy the 

 homage due to his charms. It is said that the 

 peacock is so sensible to admiration, that the 

 best method of inducing him to display his mag- 

 nificence, is to take notice of him; and that on 

 the contrary, when a person looks at him without 

 interest or attention, he carefully conceals all his 

 treasures from one who is incapable of paying 

 them due attention. 



This bird has long been naturalized in Europe ; 

 but he is of Eastern origin, being a native of In- 

 dia, where he is found almost every where in a 

 wild state, subsisting and multiplying without 

 the aid of man. From India they probably 

 passed to the western provinces of Asia, and 

 were thence transported into Greece, in the reign 

 of Alexander, where they were at first so rare, 

 that at Athens they were exhibited as objects of 

 curiosity, and the people flocked from the adja- 

 cent towns to see them. They are no where, 

 indeed, so large or so fine as in India, in the 

 neighbourhood of the Ganges, from whence, by 



