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A DESCRIPTION OF 
SECTION IV. ffiallinaceoug 93t 
THE PEACOCK. (Pavo cristatus.') 
ASTONISHED at the unparalleled beauty of this bird, the 
ancients could not help indulging their lively and creative 
fancy, in accounting for the magnificence of his plumage. 
They made him the favourite of imperial Juno, sister and 
wife to Jupiter ; and not less than the hundred eyes of 
Argus were pulled out to ornament his tail ; indeed, there 
is scarcely anything in nature that can vie with the tran- 
scendent lustre of the Peacock's feathers. The changing 
glory of his neck eclipses the deep azure of ultramarine ; 
and at the least evolution, it assumes the green tint of the 
