File:Reptiles and birds - a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting (1883) (14772266863).jpg

Identifier: reptilesbirds00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Reptiles Birds
Publisher: London : Cassell & Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Whenwe contemplate this magnificent ornament, in which purple andgold vie with the most varying colours of the emerald, and noticethe innumerable and brilliant eyes with which it is studded; whenwith delight we view the birds lofty stature, elegant shape, noblecarriage, crowmed with the emblem of royalty, we cannot help beingstruck with admiration. The Peacock was known from the earliesttime; for it is mentioned in the Bible as one of the most preciousproducts brought from Asia by King Solomons ships. It made itsfirst appearance in Greece after Alexanders expedition into India.Alexander, it is said, was so astonished at the sight of this bird thathe forbade it to be killed under the severest penalties. For a longtime they were very rare, and fetched a high price at Athens, and thepeople from the neighbouring towns assembled in crowds to seethem. From the Greeks they passed to the Romans ; but this nation,more fond of what gratified the palate than the eye, soon made them PEACOCKS. 417
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Peacock. figure in their feasts. Peacocks consequently were rapidly propagatedin the poultry-yards of the rich patricians; and some of the emperors,such as Vitellius and Heliogabalus, out of a spirit of lavish waste, 418 REPTILES AND BIRDS. caused dishes of the heads or brains of peacocks to be served. Bydegrees, however, they spread throughout the empire, and thus thePeacock has become naturahsed in Europe. During several centuriesits exquisite and dehcate flesh was in very great favour; but theimportation of the Pheasant, and later that of the Turkey, introducedrivals who have taken precedence for table honours. The Peacock isnow bred principally for ornamental purposes; even when it doesmake its appearance at some ceremonious repast, it is intended moreto gratify the eye than the palate, for the carcase is invariably deco-rated with the birds resplendent tail. The Domestic Peacock, whichis now the pride of our gardens and parks, is indigenous to India andthe isles of the Eastern Ar

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