ORDER GALLINiE. 147 



the torrid zone, it has been naturalized and domesticated 

 among us by the cares of man, who assembles the gifts of 

 nature, scattered through every latitude of the earth, to 

 administer to the gratification of his appetite, his comfort, his 

 interest, or his vanit}^ 



We must, therefore, pay no attention to the account of 

 Frisch and Willoughby, that the ivhite peacocks are abori- 

 ginals of Sweden. If this supposition could be alleged with 

 the slightest reason, we might naturally conclude that these 

 birds should still inhabit that country, or at all events that 

 they did once inhabit it, in a state of liberty. No ancient 

 author, however, makes the least mention of such a fact. 

 But Linnaeus, to whose testimony some little weight ought to 

 be attached, expressly tells us, that the climate of Sweden is 

 by no means suitable to the peacocks, and that they are 

 reared there with difficulty ; and he makes no exception in 

 favour of the white variety. It is, in fact, rare to find pea- 

 cocks in a domesticated state in the menageries of that country, 

 such is the difficulty with which they are accustomed to that 

 climate. M. Temminck assures us, that even the white pea- 

 cocks are more rare there, than in the menageries of Holland. 



Yet in this opinion, unfounded as it is, even Buffon was 

 induced to concur. But if we consider for a moment the 

 numbers of birds of all species that turn white in all parts of 

 the globe, northern, temperate, and torrid, we shall find 

 ample proofs for the refutation of such an hypothesis. 



We often see birds altogether white, such as sea-swallows, 

 gulls, goelands, &c., described by various writers as so many 

 distinct species ; but investigation has pretty clearly proved 

 that most of these pretended species, were nothing but acci- 

 dental varieties of individuals, yet young, or arrived at an 

 extreme age. 



Buffian, in wishing to prove the constant whiteness of the 

 peacock in northei-n climates, thus expresses himself: — 



L 2 



