GRADATION OF CHARACTERS. 
141 
C14 
4p. 
XIV. 
of ^ e ^ e d. "We may picture to ourselves a progenitor 
^tiov P eacofi k in an almost exactly intermediate con- 
between the existing peacock, with his enor- 
OceHj " elongated tail-coverts, ornamented with single 
tail,. 
and 
eoverts 
au ordinary gallinaceous bird with short 
merely spotted with somo colour; and we 
•hall +h 
tail. n leQ see in our mind’s eye, a bird possessing 
'no: 
' c ° verts 
hted 
capable of erection and expansion, orna- 
, <u ( "ith two partially continent ocelli, and long 
li {ly w 1 a hnost to conceal the tail-feathers.— the latter 
se e w* trendy partially lost their ocelli ; we shall 
<**Wt, a Polyplectron. Tiie indentation of the 
spg (1 - msc and surrounding zones of the ocellus in both 
fu V( A s °t peacock, seems to me to speak plainly in 
[>li c „i l , ot ^is view; and this structure is otherwise inex- 
CJ 1 . 6 - The 3 
C ul 
The males of Polyplectron are no doubt very 
but their beauty, when viewed from a 
“ ^°°logical Gardens, with that of the peacock 
‘ ^ale progenitors of the peacock must, during 
for tp 1110 descent, have appreciated this superiority ; 
have unconsciously, by the continued prefer* 
file ]y. t b° most beautiful males, rendered the peacock 
° st s plendid of living birds. 
Ar 
gati 0 ^ M f & lea sant . — Another excellent case for investi- 
ng ls °Tsred by the ocelli on the wing-feathers of 
^hne S Pheasant, which are shaded in so wonderful a 
' v bich as resemble balls lying within sockets, and 
-I Pre s , i e ^ a8e T uen tl y differ from ordinary ocelli. No one, 
which has excited 
distance. 
cannot be compared, as I formerly saw 
n© rn . e! "ill attribute the shadin^ 
Mo ti. lla ti°u of many experienced artists, to chance 
h'° fortuitous concourse of atoms of colouring 
„ ri r, rn 
“•OIRA " 
, the 
fatter. Ti ;; 
l nat these ornaments should have been formed 
tl 
16 selection of many successive variations, not 
"kick was originally intended to produce the 
