BIRDS TAMED FOR ORNAMENT 349 



though: in Europe and ekewhere in the Old World 

 it seems to have remained solely as an article of 

 luxury, having usurped the place which the Peacock 

 held in Roman civilization. It does credit to 

 humanity's love of natural beauty, so often ques- 

 tioned by nature-enthusiasts, that the Peacock, the 

 most splendid of birds, is kept and has been widely 

 disseminated for its beauty alone in modern times ; 

 and the same praise may be given to man for his 

 domestication of the Golden and Silver Pheasants,^ 

 and of a few less well-known species, as well as of 

 the Guinea- Fowl, which used to be kept as a curi- 

 osity and no doubt was regarded as very ornamental, 

 for H'asselquist says he considered it the most 

 beautiful of birds after the Humming-bird and Pea- 

 cock. Like the last bird, the Guinea-Fowl has varied 

 but little, only showing colour-aberrations as a rule, 

 though I once got one in India that would have 

 delighted Darwin, as it had a pendulous tuft of 

 feathers hanging from its neck,, much like the 

 Turkey's beard of bristles, which, Darwin said, 

 would have been called a monstrosity had it ap- 

 peared under domestication. 



From considerations of beauty, too, the African 

 tribes in some places, although the negro seems the 

 least refined of human races, encourage the Northern 

 Crowned Crane {Baleatica favonina} about their 

 villages. 



The Duck tribe have contributed the next most 

 important quota to our domestic bird-world, and 

 as the Indian Runner breed lays better than any 



