P A 
and brilliancy of colours, are flattered with profufion. 
This opinion is countenanced by Holy Writ: peacocks 
are enumerated among the valuable and rare commodi¬ 
ties that were every three years- imported by Solomon’s 
fleet; which being fitted out in the Red Sea, and not 
being able to venture at a diftance from the fhore, mud: 
obvioufly have drawn its riches either from India, or the 
eafter'n coaft of Africa. 
From Afia, it is moll probable, they were tranfported 
into Greece, where at firft they were fo rare as to be ex¬ 
hibited in Athens for thirty years, at the monthly fefti- 
vals, as an object of curiofity, which drew crouds of 
fpeftators from the neighbouring towhs. We cannot fix 
the date of this event; but it was after the return of 
Alexander from India, who firft flopped at the ifland of 
Samos. Here the conqueror was fo delighted with the 
rich plumage of the peacocks, that he enafted fevere pe¬ 
nalties again!! killing them. But it is very probable that 
foon after this time, and even before the clofe of his 
reign, they were become common ; for we learn from the 
poet Ariftophanes, who was contemporary with that 
hero and furvived him, that a fingle pair brought into 
Greece had multiplied fo rapidly, that they were as nu¬ 
merous as quails ; and befides, Ariftotle, who outlived 
his pupil only two years, fpeaks in feveral parts of his 
Work of peacocks as well-known birds. That the ifle of 
Samos was the firft ftation of Alexander on his return 
from India, is probable from its proximity to Afia ; and 
is befides proved by the exprefs teftimony of Menodotus. 
Some indeed have given a forced interpretation of this 
pafl’age, and refting on the authority of fome very ancient 
medals of Samos, in which Juno is reprefented with a 
peacock at her feet, have pretended that Samos was the 
primitive abode of that bird, from whence it has been 
difperfed to the eaft and the weft. “ There,” fays Athe- 
naeus, “ are the peacocks facred to Juno, they being firft 
reared at Samos, and thence carried into other countries, 
as the cocks from Perfis, and the meleagrides from 
iEolia.” But the truth is, that Samos was the firft part 
in Europe where the peacocks were bred ; in the fame 
manner as the pintadoes, which were well known to 
be African birds, were feen in Aiolia or .ZEtolia, before 
they were introduced into the reft of Greece; and efpe- 
cially as the climate of Samos is particularly fuited to 
them, and they lived there in the ftate of nature. Thefe 
reafons are fufficient to account for the epithet of Samian 
bird, which fome authors have beftowed on the peacock ; 
but the term can be only figurative, fince Tournefort 
never mentions the peacock in his defcription of that 
ifland, but fays that it is full of partridges, woodcocks, 
thrnfhes, wild pigeons, turtles, &c. 
After the peacock was tranfplanted from Afia into 
Greece, it found its way into the fouth of Europe, and 
was gradually introduced into England, Trance, Spain, 
Germany, Switzerland, and as far as Sweden, where in¬ 
deed they are rare, and require great attention, and even 
fuffer an alteration in their plumage. Laftly, the Euro¬ 
peans, who by the extent of their commerce and naviga¬ 
tion connect the whole inhabited world, have fpread them 
along the American coafts, and introduced them into 
Mexico, Peru, and fome of the Antilles, as St. Domingo 
and Jamaica, where they now are numerous, though there 
were none prior to the difcovery of America. The pea¬ 
cock is a heavy bird, as the ancients well remarked ; the 
fhortnefs of its wings, and the length of its tail, check its 
aerial courfe ; and, as it with difficulty fubfifts in a north¬ 
ern climate, it could never migrate into the new world. 
The peacock has fcarcely lefs ardour for the female, or 
contends with lefs obftinacy, than the common cock. 
The pea-hens are alfo of an amorous mould; and, when 
deprived of the males, they toy with each other, and wel¬ 
ter in the duft; but the eggs which they lay are then 
void of the principle of life. Wind-eggs is their common 
name in Englifh, becaufe they want their outer fhell, and 
Vol. XIX. No. 1313. 
V o. 423 
are flaccid, as if inflated with air. Perhaps this was alfo 
the reafon of the ancient epithet zep/njrian. 
Thefe birds, according to Ariftotle, attain their full 
vigour in three years. Columella is of the fame opinion ; 
and Pliny repeats the word^ of Ariftotle with fome flight 
alterations. Varro fixes the period at two years; and 
people who are well acquainted with thefe birds fay, that 
in our climate the female begins to lay at the end of the 
year, though the eggs are then certainly addled. But almoft 
all agree that the age of three years is the term when the 
peacock has acquired his full growth, and is fit to per¬ 
form the office of the male : and that the power of pro¬ 
creating is announced by a new and fplendid production : 
this is the long and beautiful feathers of the tail, which 
they difplay, as they ftrut and expand their fan. 
The female lays her eggs foon after fecundation ; flie 
does not exclude one every day, but only once in three 
or four days; and according to Ariftotle the has but one 
hatch in the year, which confifts in the firft of eight eggs, 
and in the following years of twelve. But this mult be 
underftood of thofe pea-hens that both lay their eggs and 
rear their young; for, if the eggs be removed as faft as 
they are laid, and placed under a common hen, they 
will, according to Columella, have three hatches in the 
courfe of the year; the firft of five eggs, the fecond of 
four, and the third of two or three. It would feem that 
in this country they are not fo prolific, fince they lay 
fcarcely more than four or five eggs in the year. On the 
other hand, they appear to be far more prolific in India, 
where, according to Peter Martyr, they lay from twenty 
to thirty. The temperature of a climate has great influ¬ 
ence on whatever relates to generation, and this is the 
key to thofe apparent contradictions which are found 
between the ancients and our own obfervations. In a 
warm country, the males are more ardent, fight with 
each other, require more females, and thefe lay a greater 
number of eggs; but in a cold country the latter are not 
fo prolific, and the former are calm and indifferent. 
If the pea-hen be fuffered to follow the bent of inftinfl, 
flie will lay her eggs in a fecret retired fpot; the eggs are 
white, and fpeckled like thofe of the turkey-hen, and 
nearly of the fame fize. During the whole time of incu- - 
bation, flie anxioufly ftiuns the male, and is particularly 
careful to conceal her track, when flie returns from the 
neft : for in this fpecies, as in the gallinaceous tribe, and 
many others, the male, burning with luft, and faithlefs to 
the intentions of nature, is moreearneft in the purfuit of 
pleafure, than felicitous about the multiplication of the 
race. If he difeovers his mate fitting on her eggs, he 
breaks them ; probably to remove an obftacle to the gra¬ 
tification of his paflions. The pea-hen fits from twenty- 
feven to thirty days, more or lefs, according to the tem¬ 
perature of the climate, and the warmth of the feafon. 
During that time, a fuffiefi nt fupply of food ought to be 
fet within her reach, that flie may not be obliged to ftray 
in fearch of fubfiftence, and allow her eggs to cool ; and 
care muft be taken not to teaze or difturb her in her neft ; 
for, if (he perceives that they are difeovered, (he will be 
filled with difquietude, abandon her eggs, and begin to 
make a fecond hatch, which is not likely to fucceed, be¬ 
caufe of the latenefs of the feafon. It is faid that the 
pea-lien never hatches all her eggs at once ; but, as foon 
as a few chickens emerge, flie leaves the neft to lead them 
about. In this cafe, the eggs that are left fliould be fet 
under another hen, or placed in a ftove for incubation. 
After the young are hatched, they ought to be left under 
the mother for twenty-four hours, and then removed to 
the coop ; Frifch advifes them not to be reftored to their 
dam till fome days after. 
Their firft food may be barley-meal, wheat fteeped in 
water, or bread boiled, and allowed to cool. Afterwards 
they may have frefli curd, from which the whey is well 
preffed, mixed with chopped leeks, and even grafshop- 
pers, of which they are very fond. When they are fix 
5 Q months 
