THE PEACOCK. 



To describe, in adequate terms, the dazzling 

 beauties of this elegant bird, would be a task 

 of no small difficulty. Its head is adorned with 

 a tuft, consisting of twenty-four feathers, whose 

 slender shafts are furnished with webs only at 

 the ends, painted with the most exquisite green, 

 mixed with gold : the head, throat, neck, and 

 breast, are of a deep blue, glossed with green 

 and gold; the greater coverts and bastard 

 wings are reddish brown, as are also the quills, 

 some of which are variegated with black and 

 green ; the under part of the body is black, with 

 a greenish hue : but the distinguishing charac- 

 ter of this singular bird is its train, which rises 

 just above the tail, and, when erected, forms a 

 fan of the most resplendent hues : the two mid- 

 dle feathers are sometimes four feet and a half 

 long, the others gradually diminishing on each 

 side : the shafts, white, and furnished, from their 

 origin, nearly to the end, with parted filaments 



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