In our climate the peacock does not come to perfection in size and colour under three years. The peahen lays five or six greyish eggs, but in hot countries twenty, about the size of those of a turkey. These she secretes in some private place, as the cock is apt to destroy them. The time of setting is from twenty-seven to thirty days. The little pea-fowl are not remarkable for their beauty. They may be fed with curd, chopped leeks or cabbage, boiled potatoes mixed with barley-meal, and moistened with water or milk. They eat worms and insects, especially grasshoppers.

These birds prefer the most elevated situations to roost in during the nightthe branches of high trees, the tops of houses, sheds, and the like. They appear to have a great dislike to rain, uttering the most discordant cries during wet weather and previous to its commencement.*

* There is a peacock living at the distance of half a mile from us, who almost answers the pur

The life of this bird is reckoned by some naturalists to be twenty-five years, but others compute its extent to be not less than a hundred, in its wild, free state. Its flesh is still considered as a dainty, though rarely brought to table, excepting on grand occasions, at the houses of the great and rich.

The peacock must have been in some repute in Palestine; for we hear that Solomon caused his ships of Tarshish to bring, among other rare and precious merchandize, (as the gold of Ophir, ivory, and spices,) apes and peacocks. When first introduced into Greece, they were sold at Athens for the sum of one thousand drachmæ, equal in value to thirty-two pounds five shillings and ten pence. Alexpose of a barometer. His opinion of the weather never errs; for if the sky is ever so clear, and we hear his warning notes, rain is certain to follow. Some animals possess an instinctive knowledge, in regard to natural phenomena, that exceeds the observation and reasoning powers of man.

ander of Macedon was so struck with the beauty of this rare bird, when pursuing his conquests in India, that he made a law that no one, under payment of a severe penalty, should kill a peacock. It is supposed these birds were first introduced into Macedonia by this monarch.

At what time they first appeared in England is not precisely known. The feathers and crests it seems, from old chronicles, were worn as ornaments by our kings so early as the reign of John. In all probability they were brought from the East by the Crusaders, to whom we are indebted for many of our most useful arts, and luxuries of our gardens, both in fruit and flowers.

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CONCLUSION.

AND now, my young readers, I must take my leave of you for the present, with the hope you may not have had cause to regret the time spent in the perusal of this my little volume; and I trust its pages have contributed something towards your amusement, and to increasing the stock of useful knowledge which, in the days of your youth, I hope you are endeavouring to lay up in the store-house of your mind, which if duly supplied, will prove a source of infinite pleasure as you advance through the vale of years towards maturity.

I have not entirely exhausted my stock of original matter which I have drawn upon for the materials of this little book; much that is both instructive and amusing yet

T

remains, and possibly I may be induced in a future volume, to relate "The History of my Sister's Barbary Doves;" "The Tortoise that lived in an old lady's garden in our village, with some particulars relating to its former master, a poor French boy, that was shipwrecked on our coast;" "The Hedgehog, Peter, that lived in the potatoe-pit;""The History of my Dormice;" with a variety of other subjects, equally calculated to amuse the mind of the juvenile reader.

THE END.

Joseph Rickerby, Printer, 3, Sherbourn Lane, City.