The illustrated book of domestic poultry by Doyle Martin 1787?-1875

Author:Doyle, Martin, 1787?-1875
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Poultry
Publisher: Philadelphia, Porter & Coates
Published: 1892-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

Williamson, another Eastern traveller, asserted that he saw, in passes of the Jungletery, from twelve to fifteen hundred of them of various kinds, within sight of the spot where he stood, of beautiful plumage, to which the sun imparted additional brilliancy. And possibly this officer was not aware at the moment of his enthusiastic admiration, that Alexander the Great, in a march through India, where he would have sacrificed human Jives by thousands to gratify his thirst of conquest,—of glory, as it is so falsely called,—so admired their splendour, that he issued a military order against putting any of them to death. Soon afterwards they became known in Greece and Italy, and Roman emperors had them served up at table at enormous prices.*

That a young pea-fowl is juicy and delicate, and equal to turkey, is a fact which we have more than once tested at our own table; but it is not deserving of tBe extravagant encomiums which the imperial gluttons of Rome, and the great sensualists of their times, bestowed upon them. It was the rarity, and therefore the costliness of the dish, which probably imparted the charm to men who had more wealth than morality.

There was a time when no feast in the lands of chivalry was complete without the pea-fowl, served up in its gorgeous feathers; and to use the expression of a writer in the " Penny Cyclopaedia," ''the adventurous knight made his solemn vow before the Peacock and the ladies." t

* One of the poulterers of those luxurious times is said to haye realized nearly half a million sterling a year hy rearing and fattening pea-towi for tae table.

t It must have been in allusion to this trait of chivalrous custom, that Mr. Fraed, in a charade, introduces the Peacock as saying,—•

" I graced Don Pedro's revelry, AW dressftd in fire and feather. When loveliness and chivalry Were met to feast, together. .V

It is matter of wonder that until M. Temmincfc's time, ikv, exact figure of this bird had been taken from nature. Latham enumerates seven lands of the Peacock, viz.—

The Crested.

The Black-shouldered.

The Javan.

The Japan.

The Iris.

The Thibet, and

The Malay. We shall first notice the wild Peacock generally; — "In brilliancy of plumage, the wild Peacock stands unrivalled among the feathered race. Vainly should we attempt to put any other species in competition with him in these attributes of magnificence; no species can rival him, and if we coufd venture to set a limit to the boundless riches with which nature can clothe the animated creation, we might be tempted, under this point of view, to consider the wild Peacock as the chef-d'ceuvre of her productions, the union of every various external beauty, the ne plus ultra of splendour. We find in his incomparable robe, united, all the brilliant colours that we admire separately in other birds; we find all that glistens in the rainbow, and sparkles in the mine; the azure tints of heaven, and the emerald of the field."*

If the vainest Peacock that ever

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