Dear Sir,--Happening to make a visit to my neighbour's peacocks, I could
not help observing that the trains of those magnificent birds appear by
no means to be their tails, those long feathers growing not from their
_uropygium_, but all up their backs. A range of short brown stiff
feathers, about six inches long, fixed in the _uropygium_, is the real
tail, and serves as the fulcrum to prop the train, which is long and
top-heavy, when set on end. When the train is up, nothing appears of the
bird before but its head and neck; but this would not be the case were
those long feathers fixed only in the rump, as may be seen by the turkey
cock when in a strutting attitude. By a strong muscular vibration these
birds can make the shafts of their long feathers clatter like the swords
of a sword-dancer; they then trample very quick with their feet, and run
backwards towards the females.
I should tell you that I have got an uncommon _calculus aegogropila_,
taken out of the stomach of a fat ox; it is perfectly round, and about
the size of a large Seville orange; such are, I think, usually flat.