BIRDS. lib 



could not be permitted to continue long at liberty in its distant 

 retreats. So early as the days of Solomon, we find in his na- 

 vies, among the articles imported from the east, apes and pea- 

 cocks. Julian relates, that they were brought into Greece from 

 some barbarous country, and were held in such high esteem 

 among them, that a male and female were valued at above thirty 

 pounds of our money. We are told also, that when Alexander 

 was in India, he found them flying wild in vast numbers, on the 

 banks of the river Hyarotis, and was so struck with their beauty, 

 that he laid a severe fine and punishment on all who should kill 

 or disturb them. Nor are we to be surprised at this, as the 

 Greeks were so much struck with the beauty of this bird, when 

 first brought among them, that every person paid a fixed price 

 for seeing it ; and several people came to Athens, from Lace 

 daemon and Thessaly, purely to satisfy their curiosity. 



It wiis probably first introduced into the West, merely on ac- 

 count of its beauty ; but mankind, from contemplating its figure, 

 soon came to think of serving it up for a different entertainment. 

 Aufidius Hurco stands charged by Pliny with being the first 

 who fatted up the peacock for the feast of the luxurious. 

 Whatever there may be of delicacy in the flesh of a young pea- 

 cock, it is certain an old one is very indifl^'erent eating ; never- 

 theless, there is no mention made of choosing the youngest ; it 

 is probable they were killed indiscriminately, the beauty of the 

 feathers in some measure stimulating the appetite. Hortensius 

 the orator, was the first who served them up at an entertainment 

 at Rome ; and from that time they were considered as one of 

 the greatest ornaments of every feast. Whether the Roman 

 method of cookery, which was much higher than ours, might 

 not have rendered them more palatable than we find them af 

 present, I cannot tell ; but certain it is, they talk of the pea- 

 cock as being the first of viands. 



Its fame for delicacy, however, did not continue very long : 

 for we find in the times of Francis the First, that it was a cus- 

 tom to serve up peacocks at the tables of the great, with an in- 

 tention not to be eaten, but only to be seen. Their manner 

 was to strip oflf the skin ; and then preparing the body with 

 the warmest spices, they covered it up again in its former skin ; 

 with all its pluniHge in full display, and no «ay injured by the 

 preparation. The bird thus prepared was often prescrM'd ior 



