CHAPTER XXII. 
ORNAMENTAL POULTRY. 
THE PEA-FOWL. 
Although the pea-fow] is well known as a bird of fine 
feathers, few persons are acquainted with its natural his- 
tory and real merits. It is a good table fowl, and as 
easily reared as the turkey; still it is rarely seen on a farm 
or country place, and then only as an ornament. This 
bird is a native of Asia, from whence have come nearly 
all our gallinaceous fowls, the turkey excepted. In the 
time of Solomon, it was an article of merchandise, and 
was brought with ivory and apesfrom Tarshish to Judea. 
One species of pea-fowl was found by an English 
traveler, Colonel Sykes, abounding in a part of India, 
where large flocks were kept about the native temples. 
Another Eastern traveler relates that from 1,200 to 1,500 
were seen by him in the passes of the mountain, within 
sight at one time; and he speaks in extravagant terms of 
the brilliancy of their plumage. There are three distinct 
genera, which include several species and varieties, such 
as the Crested, the Black-shouldered, the Javan, the 
Japan, the Iris, the Thibet, the Malay, etc. All the 
domesticated sorts are surpassed by the wild ones in 
beauty. Culver says of the pea-fowl: ‘‘ We find in its 
incomparable robe, united, all the brilliant colors which 
we admire separately in other birds; we find all that 
glistens in the rainbow, that sparkles in the mine, the 
azure and golden tints of the heavens, and the emerald 
of the field.” White, the naturalist, found that the 
feathers of the train do not belong to the tail, but that 
they grow upon the back, the real tail feathers being 
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