File:Birds and nature (1900) (14771154673).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature731900chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ituatedon a plain, if a dog is loose and huntsnear it, the birds will rarely move butwill show extreme uneasiness. One ofthese birds in the north of Ireland wasa curious mixture of cruelty and fun.He had four mates but he killed themall successively by pecking them todeath, for what cause no one could as-certain. Even his own offspring sharedthe same fate, until his owner placedthe peafowls eggs under a sitting henand forced her to hatch the eggs andcare for the young. His great amuse-ment was to frighten the chickens.There were two iron troughs in whichthe food for the chickens was placeddaily. No sooner had they gatheredabout them, when the peacock woulderect his train, rattle his quills togetherwith that peculiar rustling sound thatis so characteristic of these birds,and march slowly toward them. Thepoor little chicks would slowly backaway from the troughs as the peacockadvanced, not wishing to lose sight ofthe food yet not daring to remain indefiance of their persecutor. By de- 98
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grees he got them all into a corner,crouching together and trembling whenhe would overshadow them with histrain, place the ends of the feathersagainst the wall so as to cover them,rattle his quills, in order to frightenthem, and then strut off proud of thetrick he had played. He did not carefor the food which he left untouched. The peacocks disposition .is as vari-able as that of many other creatures,some being mild and good-tempered,while others are morose and jealous inthe extreme. His train, though popu-larly called his tail, is in reality com-posed of the upper tail coverts, which are enormously lengthened and finishedat their extremities with broad, roundedwebs, or with spear-shaped ends. Thetail feathers are of a grayish browncolor seven or eight inches in length,and can only be seen when the train iserected, that being its appointed task.The female is much smaller than hermate and not nearly so handsome, thetrain being almost wanting, and thecolor ashy brown, with the exception

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