DOMESTIC POULTRY. 
415 
altel'ed action of the muscular system. Instead of strutting 
for ever on the ground, or basking on the sultry soil, the 
wilder brood of the forest would be furnished with a vigour 
of wing corresponding to their fear of danger, and which 
would both enable and incline them to frequent and rapid 
flight. Now, it is evident that all birds, to pursue an easy 
course through the air, must have their tails stretched out, 
on the same line with their bodies ; otherwise their powers 
of flight would be greatly impeded. Hence it is that the 
peacock when alarmed, or about to seek safety in flight, 
instantly lowers his gorgeous train, so as to form a smooth 
continuance of the dorsal line; and, although I am not 
sufiiciently skilled in anatomy to be able to say that this is 
absolutely and unavoidably necessary, I think it highly 
probable that a more minute attention to the subject would 
prove, that the upright position of the tail was incompa- 
tible, as a simultaneous act, with that vigorous muscular 
impulsion — called flight. Be this as it may, it is a matter 
of daily observation, that the boldest and most magnifi- 
cently plumed cock of the domestic breed, when pursued 
by a dog, or otherwise forced to use his wings, immediate- 
ly lowers both his head and tail ; and I have had occasion 
to see this action more strongly manifested in an individual, 
which, having dwelt for the greater part of a summer in 
the woods upon his own resources, became so shy and 
wary, that he could neither be caught nor reclaimed, but 
generally rose with a harsh cry, at the distance of thirty or 
forty yards, with his tail extended horizontally ; and was 
at last shot, like any other wild game, as a legitimate object 
for the exercise of sportsman-like skilL 
I have entered into these apparently trifling details, be- 
cause it has been objected to the Bankiva cock, that the 
nearly horizontal position of the tail formed so striking a 
distinction between him and our common breeds, that they 
