THE PEACOCK. 



ANNA R. HENDERSON. 



ftS THE rose among flowers, so is | 

 the peacock among the feath- 

 ered tribes. 



No other bird has so many 

 colors in its plumage. Its hues are all 

 beautiful; the brilliant blue and black, 

 shot with gold, of the eyes of the tail, 

 the satin-like peacock blue of its neck 

 and breast, the shining green of its 

 back, each feather with its tiny eye of 

 brown, the clear brown of the stiff fan 

 that supports its tail, the soft gray 

 down that clothes its body — all are fit 

 robing for this royal bird. 



In keeping with his kingly raiment is 

 his regal movement; so graceful, so 

 dignified, that one seems disposed to 

 believe the legend of India, his native 

 home, that he contains the metamor- 

 phosed spirit of a peerless prince, i 

 have said that his step is kingly, yet 

 I am often disposed to yield to the 

 opinion of an old man who declared 

 that the gait of the peacock is queenly, 

 much like that of a beautiful and grace- 

 ful woman with a long train. Certain 

 it is, that nothing else can make such 

 an addition to a green lawn as a pea- 

 cock, stepping lightly along, keeping 

 his brilliant feathers swaying just above 

 the grass. 



My West Virginia home has many 

 beauties of nature, shady dells where 

 waters sparkle, pastures that slope 

 toward the shining Ohio, lofty 

 trees that give shade to sleek cat- 

 tle and spirited horses; but amid all 

 these charms we have always rated 

 highly the gorgeous peacocks which 

 have so long adorned its grounds that 

 it has become known as the "Home of 

 the Peacocks." Though now sadly di- 

 minished by poachers and hunters, 

 there were many years in which scores 

 of them, sometimes nearly a hundred, 

 strutted around our rural home. 



The peacock's tail does not assume 

 full length and beauty until his fourth 

 or fifth year. The feathers begin to 

 grow in January, and by early spring 

 are long, and then his season of strut- 

 ting begins; and he spends a large part 

 of every day in this proud employment. 

 Each peacock has his favorite place of 



strutting, and frequents it day after 

 day. Open gateposts are much sought 

 after; and our front gateposts have 

 always been favorite resting-places on 

 sunny afternoons, where these beauties 

 seemed posing to order. 



For many seasons a very handsome 

 one strutted in front of our sitting-room 

 window. Some of the family slipped 

 over its neck a cord on which hung a 

 silver dime, which shone on its blue 

 feathers. Alas for his majesty! Strut- 

 ting in the road one day, a horse shied 

 at him, and its owner threw a stone and 

 killed the beauty. 



The peahen, a meek-looking matron 

 with a green neck and long gray feath- 

 ers, is very secretive as to a nest, and 

 seeks an orchard or wheatfield. When 

 the little gray brood, from three to five 

 in number, are a few weeks old she 

 brings them to the yard. 



Peafowls scorn the shelter of a house 

 and roost in the loftiest trees. Near 

 our home are some tall oaks and under 

 them they gather on summer evenings, 

 and, after many shrill good-night cries, 

 fly upward to the high limbs. 



In cold weather they do not come 

 down until late in the day. Sometimes 

 on snowy days they get so weighted 

 with snow that they cannot fl)' up, and 

 so settle on the ground, and their long 

 feathers freezing, have to be cut loose. 

 In June or early July their feathers be- 

 gin to drop, and to secure them they 

 must be plucked. Though so docile as 

 to frequent the porches, they do not 

 like to be caught, but take to the wing, 

 so a rainy day is selected, when their 

 feathers are weighted with water, and 

 they are soon chased down. After be- 

 ing plucked they are unsteady in gait 

 and hide in the bushes for days. 



Peafowls have a strong home-feeling 

 and when taken away are hard to re- 

 tain; as they wander off, striving to re- 

 turn. They are enemies to young 

 chickens, and are exasperating to the 

 good housewife, as they are hard to 

 drive away, performing a circle and re- 

 turning. The peafowl is almost as 

 good a table fowl as the turkey. 



