PEAFOWLS
The peacock, or male peafowl, when matured and in full plumage, is the
most gorgeous of birds. Many smaller birds are more brilliant in color.
Many birds of various sizes and types have beautiful or interesting
characters as attractive as those which distinguish the peacock. But
this bird surpasses them all in attractiveness, because in it are
combined in the highest degree size, beauty of form, beauty of color,
and the power of displaying its beauties to the greatest advantage.
=Description.= The adult peacock is so much more striking in appearance
than the females and the young males, and old males are so often
exhibited alone, that many persons suppose that the peafowl are
distinctly unlike other domestic birds. The size, shape, and carriage of
the peacock sometimes suggest to them a resemblance to the turkey
gobbler, but the peacock's most striking characters seem so peculiar to
it that the attention of the observer is usually fixed upon them, to the
exclusion of direct comparisons with other creatures. When, however, one
sees a flock containing several females, or males in which the
characteristic plumage is not yet developed, the general resemblance
between peafowl and turkeys is immediately noticed. The peafowl is
smaller, slenderer, and more graceful than the turkey, and is a little
more agile in motion. But if there were no old males present to identify
the species, to which they belong, a person who was not familiar with
peafowls, seeing a flock for the first time, would be almost certain to
think that they were turkeys of a rare breed. Notwithstanding this
striking general likeness, a close observer will soon note that in
nearly every conspicuous character the differences between the two
indicate that they belong to entirely different species. The voice of
the peafowl is a harsh, piercing scream.
[Illustration: Fig. 167. Indian Peacock. (Photograph from the New York
Zooelogical Society)]
The development of the plumage in the male at full maturity is like that
of the fowl and of some pheasants. In all of these species in which the
tail of the male assumes a highly decorative form, it is not the tail
proper that is so developed, but the tail coverts and other feathers of
the back, which in the male are long and flowing. In the peacock these
feathers are very remarkably developed, both in form and in color. The
largest are sometimes a yard long. The stem, or shaft, is a marvelous
combination of lightness and strength. For the greater part of the
length of the shaft the barbs are so far apart that they do not form a
web, but make a fringe on each side. Toward the tip of the feather the
barbs are closer together, and at the extremity they form a broad web.
The feathers of this structure growing next to the main tail feathers
are the longest. The next are a little shorter, and thus the length
diminishes until the shortest coverts are only a little longer than the
ordinary feathers of the back. This feather formation is called the
train. The train of the peacock is the most prominent peculiarity of
the species, but there is also in both sexes another uncommon feather
character--the curious little tuft, or crest (called the aigret), which
grows on the head.
The surface color of the peacock is a marvelous blending of purples,
greens, golds, and bronzes of various hues. On the head and neck purple
tints predominate. The train is mostly green with large, eyelike spots,
or spangles, at the tip of each feather. The plumage of the female is a
soft brown on the body, darkest on the back and shading to nearly white
on the abdomen. The brown often shows slight tints of purple and green.
The neck and throat are a purple-green; much less intense than the
coloring on the male. The young males are colored like the females until
they molt in their second year. Then they become much darker, but it is
not until the next molt, in their third year, that they grow the
characteristic train and take on the brilliant coloration which is their
greatest attraction.
The wild peafowls in different parts of Asia vary somewhat in color and
are sometimes thought to be of different species, but they are evidently
all varieties of the same species. Specimens of all are seen in
domestication. One variety is almost black. Domestic life has had little
if any effect upon the type of peafowls. A white variety has been
produced, and from the mixture of this with the green variety, birds
that are partly white are sometimes obtained.
The significance of the terms "fowl," "cock," "hen," and "chick," or
"chicken," in combination with the "pea" in the name of this bird is, of
course, perfectly plain. Those who seek further meaning in the first
syllable are puzzled until they consult the dictionary and find that the
three letters as they occur here are not the word "pea," but a
contraction of _pawa_, which was an Anglo-Saxon corruption of _pavo_,
the Latin name of the bird. While the original meaning of the name is
not known, the word came into the Latin language from the Greek, into
which it had previously come from the Persian. Hence, the history of
the name indicates that the distribution of the peafowl was along much
the same lines in Europe as the distribution of the fowl.
=Origin.= The peafowl is supposed to be a native of Java and Ceylon. It
is found throughout Southern Asia and is said to be very numerous in
India and Ceylon, both in the wild state and in a half-domestic state.
It was known to the Jews in the time of Solomon, and to all the ancient
civilized peoples of Western Asia, Europe, and Africa at a very early
period. In the days of the Roman Empire a peacock served with the
feathers on[12] was a favorite dish at the feasts of wealthy Romans, and
this mode of serving the bird was continued in Western Europe for many
centuries. At what time they were introduced into that part of the world
is not known, but it is probable that they were distributed to the
various countries soon after the Roman conquests. Nor is anything known
of their first introduction into America. It is, however, quite
reasonable to suppose that some were brought here at an early date by
wealthy colonists.
[12] Of course the bird was not cooked with the feathers on, but was
skinned, the feathers remaining in the skin, and after the flesh was
cooked the skin with the feathers was placed over it before it appeared
on the table. Skinning poultry instead of plucking the feathers seems to
have been quite a common practice in old times. As recently as between
1880 and 1890 the author heard of people who preferred it as the easiest
way of preparing chickens to be cooked immediately.
=Place in domestication.= In Europe and America the peafowl is now bred
only for ornamental purposes. That seems to be its status even in the
Asiatic countries, where it is most abundant, and its position has
probably been much the same in all lands and in all ages. The use of
fully developed peacocks for food at banquets was simply a display of
barbarous extravagance. Although a young peafowl is very good eating, a
male old enough to have acquired its full plumage would be hard, tough,
and unpalatable. The peafowl is not prolific enough to be a profitable
table bird, and is too desirable for its beauty to be used for any other
purpose. In this country peafowls are not common. Very few are seen
except in zooelogical collections and at the principal poultry shows. The
scarcity of peafowl is not due wholly to the expense of procuring them
or to the difficulty of rearing them. Indeed, neither of these
constitutes a serious drawback to their popularity. The peafowl is its
own worst enemy in domestication. It has a very savage disposition
toward smaller birds, and in this way usually makes itself an
intolerable nuisance to those who grow other poultry. Many owners of
large farms, who do not keep turkeys, or who keep only a small flock,
might maintain a small stock of peafowl with very little trouble.
Although they are so vicious when brought in close contact with smaller
poultry, they will flock and forage by themselves if they have room to
do so.
=Management.= The methods of managing turkeys apply at nearly every
point to the management of peafowl. The peafowl matures more slowly and
does not breed so early. The females are not fit for breeding until two
years old; the males not until three years old. They do not pair, but
mate in small polygamous families--one male with from two to four
females. The peahen usually lays from four to six eggs--rarely more than
eight or ten. The period of incubation is four weeks. Young peachicks
are very bright and active. They begin to fly when only three or four
days old. If they are to be kept in an inclosure while very small, the
sides must be high or the top must be covered with wire netting.
Although so active, they are less independent than most young poultry,
and follow the mother closely until she drives them from her at the
approach of the next breeding season. Peahens are preferred as mothers,
because their disposition is to keep their young with them much longer
than a turkey or a fowl does. Next to the peahen a turkey hen makes the
best mother for peachicks.