PEACOCK, or PEAFOWL, PaVO, a genus of gallinaceous birds of the family paronidw, or phaffianidte, of which only two species are known, natives Of the East Indies; birds of size, and remarkable for magnificence of plumage. The bill is of moderate size, ;oinewhat arched towards the tip; the cheeks nearly naked; the head crested; the tarsi rather long, and armed with a single spur; the wings short ; the upper tail-coverts pro longed far beyond the tail, and forming a splendid train—popularly called the tail— which is, capable of being erected and spread out into a great disk, the true tail being at Inn same time erected to support it. The common peacock (P. cristatas) has for crest a kind of aigrette of 24 upright. feathers, with slender almost naked shafts and broad tip. The tail consists of IS. brown stiff feathers, and is about 6 in. long. The train derives much of its beauty from the loose barbs of its feathers, whilst their great number and unequal length contribute to its gorgeousness, the upper feathers being successively shorter, so that when it is erected into a disk, the eye-like or moon-like spot at the tip of each feather is displayed. The lowest and longest feathers of the train do not terminate in such spots, but in spreading barbs, which encircle the erected disk. The blue of the neck, the green and black of the back and wings; the brown, green, violet, and gold of the tail; the arrangement of the colors, their metallic splendor, and the play of color in ehangino• lights, render the male peacock an object of universal admiration—a sentiment in which the bird himself evidently participates to a degree that is very amusing, as he struts about to display himself to advantage, and labors to attract attention, affording a familiar proverbial image of ostentation and pride. When the disk is erected, the pea cock has the power of rattling the shafts of its feathers against each other in a very peculiar manner, by a stong muscular vibration. The peahen is much smaller than the male bird, has no train, and is of dull plumage, mostly brownish, except that the neck is green. As in some other gallinaceous birds, the female has been known, in old age, to assume the plumage of the male. Individuals with white plumage not 'infrequently occur, in which even the eye like spots of the WI are but faintly indicated; and pied peacocks, having the deep blue of the neck and breast contrasted with pure white, are sometimes to be seen. The peacock is generally supposed to have been known to the Hebrews in the time of Solomon, but it is not certain that the word commonly trans lated peacocks in the account of Solomon's importations from Tarshish (2d Citron. ix. 21) does not signify parrots. It is commonly stated that it first became known to the Greeks on the occasion of Alexander's expedition to India, but Aristophanes mentions it in plays written before Alexander was born. The peacock became common among the Greeks and Romans; a sumptuous banquet in the latter days of Roman greatness was scarcely complete without it: and wealth and folly went to the excess of providing dishes of pea cocks' tougues'and peacocks' brains. Throughout the middle ages, also, a peacock was
often presented at the tables of the great, on great occasions, the skin with the plumage being placed around the bird after it was choked. The peacock is now common in moat parts of the world; generally kept, however, except in warm 'countries, for ornament rather than for profit, although both the flesh and the eggs are very good. It readily partakes of nil the ordinary food provided for the poultry-yard, and is fond of buds and succulent vegetables.. It is hardy enough even in cold climates, except that few eggs are laid, and the young are difficult to rear, but, the adult birds sit on trees or on the tops of houses, stacks, etc., during the keenest frosty if they can avoid it, sub mitting to the confinement of a roosting-place, like that of the common fowl. Peacocks are found in almost all parts of India, Siam, etc., and the multitudes in which they occur in some districts are wonderful. " About the passes in the Jungletery district," col. 'Williamson says, in his Oriental Field Sports, woods were covered with their beautiful plumage, to which a rising sun imparted additional brilliancy. The small patches of plain, among the long grasS, most of them cultivated, and with mustard then in bloom, which induced the birds to feed, increased the beauty of the scene; and I speak within hounds when I assert that there could not be less than 1,200 or 1,500 peafowls, of various sizes, within sight of the spot where I stood far near an hour." Sir James Emer son Tennent, also, in his work on Ceylon, says that "in some_of the unfrequented por Lions of the eastern province, to which Europeans rarely resort, and where the peafowl are unmolested by the natives, their number is so extraordinary that, regarded as game, it ceases to lie `sport' to destroy them; and their cries at early morning are so tumult uous and incessant as to banish sleep, and amount to an actual inconvenience."—The harsh cry of the peacock seems to have been imitated in its Greek name Tuts, and prob ably has given rise also to tire Latin pato and the English peacock. The peacock, in a wild state, also roosts on trees, but makes its nest on the ground. When alarmed, as it feeds on the ground, it cannot readily take wing, and is sometimes run down by dogs or by horsemen.—The other species of tire peacock is the JAPAN PEACOCK or JAVANESE PEACOCK (I'. Japonensis, Jataniceis, or Mu tiros), a native of some of the south-eastern parts of Asia and neighboring islands. It is nearly equal in size to the common peacock, but of less brilliant although very similar plumage. The cheeks and around the eyes are yellow; the neck, and other fore parts, greenish with golden reflections. The crest is longer than that of the common peacock, its feathers less equal, and webbed along their whole length.