ORDER GALLlNiE. 139 



Others have their external barbs of a fine green, with light 

 bronzed reflexions ; the internal barbs are of a deep bistre ; 

 the belly, flanks, and abdomen, are blackish, with reflexions 

 of golden-green. These plumes are terminated on the knee 

 by a fawn-coloured band. 



It would appear that the wild pea-hen has but one brood 

 in the year ; she lays from twenty-five to thirty eggs, which 

 she deposits on the ground, in well-sheltered places, where 

 they are secure from every attempt of the tiger. 



In the Sanscrit language, the wild peacock is termed 

 Mavalie. 



The wild peacocks which are brought up in the menageries 

 of Java, always exhibit their natural inclination for liberty, 

 returning into the woods whenever they can find an oppor- 

 tunity. 



To M. Sonnini we are indebted for a most simple, clear, 

 and precise account of the domestic peacock. From him, 

 therefore, we shall borrow what we have to say on the subject. 

 If on this point we depart from our system, and enter a little 

 more into description than is customary with us here, it is 

 necessary for the purposes of supplying the deficiences of the 

 text. Moreover, the peculiar character of the birds on which 

 we are writing, appears in a more especial manner to demand it. 



The peacock is pretty nearly about the size of a middling 

 turkey ; its ordinary length, from the end of the bill to the 

 tip of the tail, is three feet eight inches ; the tail is more 

 than a foot and a half, and the folded wings extend to about 

 five inches of the length of the tail. 



A tuft, resembling in nothing those on the heads of tufted 

 birds in general, an elegant diadem of beauty, surmounts the 

 small and oblong head of the peacock; this handsome aigrette 

 is formed of four and twenty straight and slender feathers, 

 raised about two inches above the head, crowned only on their 

 summit by barbs, like those of ordinary feathers, and having 



