as a support to the train. When pleased or delighted, and in sight of his females, the Peacock erects his train, and displays all the majesty of his beauty: all his movements are full of dignity; his head and neck bend nobly back; his pace is slow and solemn, and he frequently turns slowly and gracefully round, as if to catch the sunbeams in every direction, and produce new colours of inconceivable richness and beauty, accompanied at the same time with a hollow murmuring voice expressive of desire. The cry of the Peacock, at other times, is often repeated and very disagreeable. The plumes are shed every year, and, while moulting them, the bird, as if humiliated, retires from view.

The Peacock has in some countries been esteemed as an article of luxury; but whatever there may be of delicacy in the flesh of a young Peacock, it is certain an old one is very indifferent eating. Its fame for delicacy, however, did not continue very long; for we find in the time of Francis the First, that it was a custom to serve up Peacocks to the tables of the great, with an intention not to be eaten, but only to be seen. Their manner was to strip off the skin; and then preparing the body with the warmest spices, they covered it up again in its former skin, with all its plumage in full display, and no way injured by the preparation. The bird, thus prepared, was often preserved for many years without corrupting; and it is asserted of the Peacock's flesh, that it keeps longer unputrefied than that of any other animal. To give a higher zest to these entertainments, on weddings particularly, they filled the bird's beak and throat with cotton and camphire, which they set on fire to amuse and delight the company. Peacocks were highly esteemed by the Romans, and the Bible mentions them among Solomon's importations from the East. In the days of chivalry also they were in such great repute as to be the subject of a knightly oath.

Like other birds of the poultry kind, the Peacock feeds upon corn; but its chief predilection is for barley. There is, however, scarcely any food that it will not at times covet and pursue. In the indulgence of these capricious pursuits, walls cannot easily confine it; it strips the tops of houses of their tiles or thatch, it lays waste the labours of the gardener, roots up his choicest seeds, and nips his favourite flowers in the bud. Thus its beauty ill recompenses for the mischief it occasions; and many of the more homely looking fowls are very deservedly preferred before it.

The Peahen seldom lays above five or six eggs in this climate before she sits. Aristotle describes her as laying twelve; and it is probable, in her native climate, she may be thus prolific: for it is certain that, in the forests where they breed naturally, they are numerous beyond expression. The bird lives about twenty years; and not till its third year has it that beautiful variegated plumage that adorns its tail.

JAVANESE PEA-FOWL.

WE are indebted to Asia for the most magnificent as well as the most useful of our gallinaceous birds. All the different species of fowls from which our domestic breeds originally sprung, together with the pheasants and peacocks that ornament our aviaries and museums, have been procured from the eastern parts of that continent, where they still exist in a state of nature, displaying their gorgeous plumage to the rays of a tropical sun. Of these birds the Pea-Fowl are beyond all question the most highly favoured, in the graceful dignity of their form, the varied splendour of their plumage, the tasteful disposition

of their colours, and their means of displaying all these beauties to the greatest possible advantage.

Two species only of this group are yet known. Of these one has long been familiar to this quarter of the globe, having been introduced into Greece before the time of Pericles, and spread from thence throughout Europe. The other may be regarded as quite a recent acquisition. Zoological Gardens.

THE PHEASANT.*

THE name of this bird sufficiently indicates its origin. The Pheasant is the bird of Phasis, a river of Colchis, in Asia Minor, whence they were first introduced into Europe.

Next to the peacock they are the most beautiful of birds, as well for the vivid colour of their plumes as for their happy mixtures and varieties. It is far beyond the power of the pencil to draw anything so glossy, so bright, or points so finely blending into each other. We are told that when Croesus, king of Lydia, was seated on his throne, adorned with royal magnificence, and all the barbarous pomp of eastern splendour, he asked Solon if he had ever beheld any thing so fine? The Greek philosopher, no way moved by the objects before him, or taking a pride in his native simplicity, replied, that after having seen the beautiful plumage of the Pheasant, he could be astonished at no other finery.

The Pheasant has never been introduced into America. The bird which is called Pheasant in the middle and southern States, we have already noticed under the title of the Ruffed Grouse

In fact, nothing can satisfy the eye with a greater variety and richness of ornament than this beautiful creature. The iris of the eyes is yellow; and the eyes themselves are surrounded with a scarlet colour, sprinkled with small specks of black. On the fore part of the head there are blackish feathers mixed with a shining purple. The top of the head and the upper part of the neck are tinged with a darkish green that shines like silk. In some, the top of the head is of a shining blue, and the head itself, as well as the upper part of the neck, appears sometimes blue and sometimes green, as it is differently placed to the eye of the spectator. The feathers of the breast, the shoulders, the middle of the back, and the sides under the wings, have a blackish ground, with edges tinged of an exquisite colour, which appears sometimes black and sometimes purple, according to the different lights it is placed in; under the purple there is a transverse streak of gold colour. The tail, from the middle feathers to the root, is about eighteen inches long; the legs, the feet, and the toes, are of the colour of horn. There are black spurs on the legs, shorter than those of a cock; there is a membrane that connects two of the toes together; and the male is much more beautiful than the female.

The wings of the Pheasant are short, and not calculated for a protracted flight. On this account, the Pheasants on the island called Isola Madre, in the Lago Maggiore, in Italy, as they cannot fly across the lake, are imprisoned. Those which attempt to cross are almost always drowned.

This bird, though so beautiful to the eye, is not less delicate when served up to the table. Its flesh is considered as the greatest dainty; and when the old physicians spoke of the wholesomeness of any viands, they made their comparison with the flesh of the Pheasant. In the woods the hen Pheasant lays from eighteen to twenty