PEA FOWLS PEACOCK. 



swans have flocked to a particular part of the river, 

 they are caught and put into boats, and thence distri- 

 buted to other parts. 



Pea and Guinea Fowls, and Pheasants. 



The PEA COCK and HEN, and GUINEA FOWLS, are 

 always kept by the London dealers, whence any per- 

 son in the country may be supplied with breeding 

 stock. Exclusive of the consideration of ornament to 

 a poultry yard, the peacock is very useful for the de- 

 struction of all kinds of reptiles ; but at the same time 

 some peacocks are said to be vicious, and apt to tear 

 to pieces and devour young chicks and ducklings, suf- 

 fered to be within their reach. They are also destruc- 

 tive in a garden. 



This most beautiful of all the feathered race is sup- 

 posed to have been originally a native of India, and pea- 

 cocks are said to be at present found in a wild state upon 

 the islands of Java and Ceylon. The history of king 

 Solomon is a voucher for the antiquity of the peacock, 

 and also the choice of the goddess Juno, who selected 

 this for her favourite bird, from its gorgeous and bril- 

 liant plumage, and majesty of demeanour. It is as- 

 serted by the ancient writers that the first peacock was 

 honoured with a public exhibition at Athens ; that 

 many people travelled thither from Macedonia, to be 

 spectators of that beautiful phenomenon, the paragon 

 of the feathered race. It is probable the ancients, as 

 well as the moderns, introduced the peacock upon the 

 table, rather as an ornament than a viand. There are 

 varieties of this bird, some white ; they perch on trees 



G5 



