NATURAL HISTORY. —_493 
PEACOCK, | . 
y Tur Italians have obferved, not unaptly, that this 
bird has the-plumage.of an angel, the voice of a des 
mon and the appetite of athief. They were origin- 
ally from india, and are {till found in vaft flocks ia 
the iflands of Ceylon andJava.. The beauty of the ~ 
peacock deprived it firft of its liberty ; which proves 
to demonftration, that beauty is not confined to the 
deftruétion of the human fpecies. ‘So early as in the 
time of Solomon, ‘according to the tenth chapter of 
the firft book of Kings, apes and peacocks are found 
among thie articles that were imported from ‘Tarfhith. 
They wére fo much efteemed by the Greeks, that a 
pair of t was reckoned worth upwards of thirty. 
pounds fteriing. » When firft introduced into Greece, 
they were made a public exhibition. ‘Hortenfius, 
the orator, was the firft who férved them up as an en- 
tertainment tor the table.. They were’ afterwards 
confidered the choiceft of viands, and gne of the. 
greateft ornaments of the feaft: But their palatable — 
fame foon declined. as may be obferved by the con- 
duct of Franeis 1; who ferved them up in their phim- 
age, by way of ornament, not as adainty,: _ 
« Todefcribe the peacock as concifely as poffible, 
we have only to obferve, that the heads neck and be- 
ginning of the breaft, are of a deep fhining blue; on the 
crown, is a tuft of green feathers ; and the tail, which 
may be faid to vie in fplendor with the rainbow, 
Ge colours being fo beautifully intermixed) they 
difplay .with all: the seeming: vanity of a conceited 
beauty. The gold, chefnut, green and blue of the 
eyes, are fo happily difpofed, that they form the fineft 
harmony, and moft beautiful contraft of colour, that 
can poflibly be’conceived.:: The bird himfelf is to 
fenfible of this fuperiority of pinnae, which cer- 
tainly exceeds every thing of the kind in nature’s 
works, that he is never fo -proud as when he exhibits 
- this unrivalled work ofthe Divine Artift, to ‘whom 
fe is indebted for his form and exiftence. . 
See 
