THE PEACOCK. 
85 
THE PEACOCK. ( Pavo cristatus.') 
The Gallinaceous birds ( Rasores ) form the fourth order, 
which includes many of the domestic fowls, and others use- 
ful to man. The Peacock is the most celebrated of the 
order, the beauty of its plumage having rendered it a 
favourite in all ages of the world ; indeed, there is scarcely 
anything in nature that can vie with the transcendent 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 emerald, and the 
purple hue of the amethyst. His head, which is small and 
finely shaped, has several curious stripes of white and black 
round the eyes, and is surmounted by an elegant plume, or 
tuft of 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 reflec- 
tions of versatile light, the broad and variegated disks of 
his tail, of which the neck, head, and breast of the bird 
become the centre, claims our well merited 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 eyc- 
like spots of dark brown and sapphire. The female 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, and these at a distance of usually three or four days 
