The Peacock. 305 
feathers, each of which is composed of a slender stem 
and a small tuft at the top. Displayed with conscious 
pride, and exposed under a variety of angles to the 
reflections of light, the broad and variegated disks of 
his train, of which the neck, head, and breast of the 
bird become the centre, claim our admiration. By an 
extraordinary mixture of the brightest colours, it displays 
at once the richness of gold, and the paler tints of silver, 
fringed with bronze-coloured edges, and surrounding 
eye-like spots of dark brown and sapphire. The hen 
does not share in the beauty of the cock, and her feathers 
are generally of a light brown. She lays only a few 
eggs at a time, generally at an interval of three or four 
days ; they are white and spotted, like the eggs of the 
turkey. She sits from twenty-seven to thirty days. 
The loud screamings of the Peacock are worse than the 
harsh croakings of the raven, and a sure prognostic of 
bad weather; and his feet, more clumsy than those of 
the turkey, make 'a sad contrast with the elegance of his 
plumage : 
" Though richest hues the Peacock's plumes adorn, 
Yet horror screams from his discordant throat." 
The spreading of the train, the swelling of the throat, 
neck, and breast, and the puffing noise which they emit 
at certain times, are proofs that the Turkey and the Pea- 
cock stand nearly allied in the family chain of animated 
beings. 
The flesh of the Peacock was anciently esteemed a 
princely dish ; and the whole bird used to be served on 
the table with the feathers of the neck and tail preserved ; 
but few people could now relish such food, as it is much 
coarser than the flesh of the turkey. The Italians have 
given this laconic description of the Peacock : " He has 
the plumage of an angel, the voice of a devil, and the 
stomach of a thief." 
