606 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Rasores. 'brown above, and ashy-white below, the crest red. It in- 

 ' habits Brazil, Paraguay, and Guiana. Two other species 

 are described by M. Lesson, On. Goudotii and squamala, — 

 the former inhabits the mountains of Santa Fe de Bogota, 

 the latter is native to Brazil. 1 



The genus Opisthocomus of Hoffmansegg (Sasa of 

 Vieil.) is associated in our present system with the preced- 

 ing alectors. The only known species (Phasianus crista- 

 lus, Lath.) has the bill short and thick, the nostrils pierced 

 in its corneous portion, without the usual surrounding mem- 

 brane. The head bears a crest of long, slender, decomposed 

 feathers, and the toes (in which character it also differs 

 from all the genuine gallinaceous kind) have no connect- 

 ing membrane at the base. The bird occurs in Guiana, 

 where it is usually seen perched in places subject to inun- 

 dation. It lives chiefly on the leaves and seeds of a species 

 of arum. Its flesh has a strong smell of castoreum, and is 

 used only as a bait for fishes. " II forme," says Baron 

 Cuvier, " un genre ties distinct des autres gallinacees, et 

 qui pourra devenir le type d'un famille particuliere quand 

 on connaitra son anatomie." 2 Its true situation in the na- 

 tural system seems at present quite uncertain, but, from its 

 great diversity in different works, must assuredly in some 

 be most erroneous. 



In the genus Pavo of Linn., the bill, of moderate size, 

 is bare at the base, the nostrils lateral, sub-basal, open. 

 The head is crested, the cheeks are naked, or nearly so. 

 The tarsi are rather long, and armed with a conical spur. 

 The upper coverts of the tail are of singular length and 

 magnificence. The tail itself is erectile and wedge-shaped. 

 The wings are rather short. This genus, as now restricted, 

 contains only two species. The common peacock (Pavo 

 crislatus, Linn.), so much admired for the surpassing splen- 

 dour of its plumage, and now so familiarly known as a do- 

 mestic bird, has probably been reduced to a state of de- 

 pendence, if not of servitude, for some thousand years. 

 The earliest notice we possess of it is contained in the se- 

 cond book of Chronicles. " For the king's ships went to 

 Tarshish with the servants of Hiram : every three years 

 once came the ships of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, 

 ivory, and apes, and peacocks." The introduction of this 

 beautiful bird to the western countries of Europe has never 

 been clearly traced, — but every step of its progress has no 

 doubt been owing rather to the agency of man than the in- 

 stinct of nature. Its inborn tendency would clearly have 

 been to return to whence it came, — to seek again the per- 

 petual sunshine, and ever-verdant forests of Asia, the 

 banks " of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams." It ap- 

 pears to have been unknown even in Greece during the early 

 manhood of Alexander the Great, by whom it was first 

 observed with no less wonder than delight in the progress 

 of his southern expedition, and then transmitted to his na- 

 tive country. There, however, it must have multiplied 

 speedily, as Aristotle, who died in a year or two after " the 

 great Emathian conqueror," mentions the peacock as a 

 well-known bird. It is now distributed among most civi- 

 lized nations, beautifying with lustrous train our verdant 

 lawns, and arching its proud emblazoned neck among the 

 " ancestral trees" of many lordly dwellings. The cry of 

 the peacock, unless when mellowed by distance, is harsh 

 and unmusical, but extends far and wide. Indeed the notes 

 of all birds, whether musically toned or inharmonious, are 

 very clear and forcible. The voice of a blackbird may be 

 heard as far as that of a man, — the clanging cry of the 



stork has been calculated to fill a circumference of nearly Rasores. 

 half a league, and the harsh scream of the peacock extends v 

 as far as that of an elephant. 3 Mr Waterton observes, that 

 the singular metallic note of the campanero or bell-bird of 

 America is audible from a distance of three miles. 



The only other species of this genus (as now restricted) 

 is the Japan or Javanese peacock (P. Japonensis, Briss., — 

 P. Javamcus, Horsfield), of which we have elsewhere 

 figured both the adult male and young, under the name 

 of Aldrovandine peacock, from the specimens in the Edin- 

 burgh Museum. 4 It occurs in Japan, Java, and other 

 eastern and southern regions of Asia. The particular 

 markings and general distribution of the colours in the 

 train scarcely differ from those of the better-known species ; 

 but the Aldrovandine bird may be distinguished at first 

 sight from the common kind, by a difference in the form, 

 colour, and consistence of the cervical feathers ; by the 

 shape and structure of the occipital crest, of which the 

 plumes are lance-shaped, or broadly linear, and barbed 

 throughout their entire length, instead of being merely 

 tufted at the extremities; by the dissimilar plumage of the 

 wing-coverts, and the number of feathers in the tail, which 

 in the former consists of twenty, in the latter of only 

 eighteen. 



The genus Polyplectron, Temm., contains a few spe- 

 cies formerly classed with the preceding, but of smaller 

 size, and distinguished by a pair of spurs on each tarsus. 

 Such is the beautiful Thibet peacock (Pol. Thibetanus), the 

 peacock-pheasant of Edwards, of which a great proportion 

 of the plumage is ornamented by large and very brilliant 

 spots of greenish blue, changing with the varying light to 

 gold and purple, and surrounded by circles of black and 

 yellowish white. The male is about the size of the golden 

 pheasant. The plumage of the female is less brilliant, 

 and her tail shorter. The colour in the young of both 

 sexes is earthy gray, with large spots and small lines of 

 brown. This species is of easy domestication, and not re- 

 markable for shyness even in a state of nature. It is na- 

 tive to the mountains of Thibet, and is said also to occur 

 in China. At least it is frequent in the aviaries of that 

 leaf-soaking people. 



The genus Lophophorus, Temm., distinguished by its 

 tufted hanging crest, and strongly bent and broadly mar- 

 gined bill, contains that splendid bird the Impeyan phea- 

 sant (Loph. refulgens), of which the colours of the plumage 

 are so exceedingly brilliant from their metallic lustre, and 

 so variable according to the direction of the light or the 

 position of the spectator, that they cannot be expressed 

 by words, and even the skill of the most accomplished 

 painter would in vain attempt to equal the bright original. 

 Purple, green, and gold, are the prevailing hues. The fe- 

 male, however, is almost entirely destitute of metallic splen- 

 dour. This bird inhabits the mountains in the northern 

 parts of Hindustan. Lady Impey endeavoured to trans- 

 port it alive to England, but it died on the passage. It is 

 known to the natives by the name of nwnaul, which signi- 

 fies the bird of gold. 



The genus Meleagris, Linn., distinguished by its bare 

 and wattled head and neck, and broad erectile tail, con- 

 tains the valuable but unromantic turkey, M. gallo-pavo, 

 Linn., a heavy and ungraceful bird, as it exists in the poul- 

 try-yards of Britain, but of a richer plumage and more 

 powerful wing in its native wooded wilderness. " The wild 

 turkey," observes Mr Nuttall, " once prevalent throughout 



1 Diclionnaire des Sciences Nat. t. lix. p. 195. 3 Rctpte Animal, t. i. p. 473, note. 



3 We have few opportunities (fortunately) afforded us in this country of judging of the strength of voice in wild beasts. Our own 

 experience extends oniy to the following homely fact, which, however, it may be worth while to mention. During the residence m 

 Edinburgh of Mr Wombwell's and other travelling menageries, we have endeavoured to test the extension of the lion's voice from 

 different quarters. We have often heard it very distinctly on a still evening, about feeding time, from the top of Craigleith quarry, 

 distant from the menagerie (on the Mound, Princes Street) about two miles and a half. 



* Illustrations of Zoology, Tol. i. pi. 14, 15. 



