THE PEA FOWL. 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



The peacock view, still exquisitely fair. 

 When clouds forsake, or when invest the air ; 

 His gems now brightened hy anoon-tide ray ; 

 He proudly waves his feathers to the day, 

 A strut majestically slow assumes, 

 And glories in the beauty of his plumes. 



Paraphrase of the Boos or Job. 



The common pea fowl has probably been tamed and 

 domesticated ever since there have existed hu/nan 

 eyes to admire it. It is said to have been brought 

 from the barbarians into Greece ; and being for a long 

 time rare, it was then exhibited for money to the ad- 

 mirers of beauty in a similar manner as menagerie 

 birds are with us, at the present day.*? At Athens, 

 both men and women were admitted to examine it 

 every new moon, and profit was made by the show ; 

 and, as Antyphon says in his speech against Crasistra- 

 tus, the male and female were valued at 1,000 

 drachmae, or about $150 the pair. 



The remarkable point in this account is, that the 

 creature Vas not gratuitously exhibited, like the tri- 

 umphal spoils of conquered nations, but was made a 

 wild-beast show, . for a consideration, and as a matter 

 of gain. It would be interesting to know the price of 

 admission, what sort of " brass band" performed before 

 the doors, and whether the pictorial representations, 



