;oo 



PEACOCK 



" japanned " plumage, leading to the conclusion that the latter may 

 be due to " reversion to a primordial and otherwise extinct condi- 

 tion of the species," and it is to be observed that the " japanned " 

 male has in the coloration of the parts mentioned no little re- 

 semblance to that of the second indubitably good species, the 

 P. muticus (or P. spicifer of some writers) of Burma and Java, 

 though the character of the latter's crest the feathers of which 

 are barbed along their whole length instead of at the tip only and 



JAPANNED" PEAFOWLS. (After Wolf in Elliot's ' Phasianidse.") 



its golden-green neck and breast furnish a ready means of distinc- 

 tion. The late Sir R. Heron was confident that the " japanned " 

 breed had arisen in England within his memory, 1 and Darwin 

 (Anim. and Plants under Domestic, i. pp. 290-292) was inclined to 

 believe it only a variety ; but its abrupt appearance, which rests on 

 indisputable evidence, is most suggestive in the light that it may 



1 This may have been the case as regards England ; but I have a distinct 

 recollection of having seen a bird of this form represented in an old Dutch 

 picture, though when or where I cannot state. An instance of its sudden pro- 

 duction from the ordinary stock occurred to my own knowledge as mentioned by 

 Mr. Darwin. 



