158 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Slyness Singular mode of catching them. 



degrees, they have spread into all parts, increas- 

 ing in a wild state in the wanner climates, but 

 wanting much attention in the colder regions. 



When Alexander saw them for the first time 

 in India, on the banks of the Hyarotis, he was 

 so struck with their beauty, that he forbade them 

 to be killed under very severe penalties. It ap- 

 pears, however, that soon after his time, and 

 even during his reign, they became very com- 

 mon ; for the poet Antiphanes, who was contem- 

 porary with that prince, and survived him, says, 

 that a single pair which had been brought to 

 Greece, had multiplied to such a degree, that 

 they were as abundant as quails. Aristotle, like- 

 wise, who survived his pupil only two years, 

 speaks in several places of peacocks as then very 

 common. 



In India, where these birds live in a wild state, 

 though they may be seen in the fields in nume- 

 rous flocks, they are so shy that they will allow 

 no person to approach them. The moment they 

 discover the fowler, they conceal themselves in 

 thickets, where it is impossible to pursue them. 

 The only means of catching them then is night- 

 time, and this is effected in the following singular 

 manner. Approaching the tree where they are 

 perched, a kind of banner, upon which are fixed 

 two lighted candles, is held up towards them. 

 On this decoy are "the figures of peacocks, judici- 

 ously painted. The bird, dazzled by the light, 

 or deceived by the painted figures, stretches out 



