THE VARIEGATED PEACOCK. l63 



", ; ' 



Observations on varieties. 



of the plumage of the male. Modern naturalists 

 say very little relative to the history of these 

 birds, excepting that the young are very difficult 

 to rear. It is probable, however, that the influ- 

 ence of the climate is not confined to their plu- 

 mage, but that it extends more or less to their 

 habits, manners, and disposition. 



As a proof that the breed of white peacocks is 

 not absolutely peculiar to the climates of the 

 north, we are told by Mauduyt, that in 1783, a 

 pair of common peacocks, at Gentilli, near Pa- 

 lis, produced four young ones, two of which re- 

 sembled the parents in their plumage, the other 

 two being perfectly white. This gentleman also 

 asserts, that there was not a white peacock in the 

 \illage, or its neighbourhood. The same thing 

 occurred a few years before, in a place about the 

 sanie distance from Paris. 



THE VARIEGATED PEACOCK, 

 AND OTHERS. 



IT is supposed by Frisch, that the variegated 

 peacock is no other than the produce of a mix- 

 ture of the two preceding, the common peacock, 

 and the white peacock. Its plumage, indeed, 

 seems to indicate this mongrel origin; for it is 

 white upon the belly, wings, and head ; while in 

 every other respect it resembles the common 

 peacock, excepting that the eye-spots of the tail 



