The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-25
BILL ARP'S PEAFOWLS
CAUSE TIE NEIGBBORS TROUBLE;
AND HE GIFTS AN ANONYMOUS
LITTER.
Fnmilios Fail Out and Fuss-Rut such
Troubles Occur In thu best Regulated
Families. go Arp Decldesro
Let 1t Drop.

"Sic utre tuo ut alieum non toedas,"
which! means il your chickens get IN
your nabor's garden ho must sic the
dog on 'em, or words to that effect
Yesterday L received kind lettor
from some unknown friend saying
that our peafowls were annoying tho
neighboring gardens and il thoy wore
not put up they would DO killed. |
was rrminating about this anonymous
iettor and my opinion is that this is
not the best way to make Il com
plant. Our nabors are all good and
kind to rs and I suppose it was the
fear of giving offense that kept tho
writer's name from the letter but |
really would hpvo felt better if the
writer had told me face to face about
tho peafowls, AS it is, l an afraid
several nabors have beon feeling un-
kind and don't know who to apollo
gize to. My wife has told mo soy
eral times that she feared tho pca
fowls were tresspassing and that we
had botter get rid of thcm. NNell,
wo have had four or five every year
for twelve years and they never did
any scriona harm to our own garden
Hot half rs much rs somo of our
nabors' chickens and dogs have done,
but folks are folks about such
things and nobody likes to have other
folks bipeds or quadrupeds prowling
around. Tho peafowl is such nice,
pretty, aristocratic bird that we
thought tho nabors would like to see
them occasionally, and if thoy be-
h' vcd badly a few stones and clods
and sticks and womanly "shoos" would
drive them away for good, for they
are timid and easily insulted. AS for
putting them up, we can't do it, for
we can't catch them and thoy roost
SO high we can't reach them. A
colored Methodist preacher couldn't.
And so when I got tho anonymous
[ engaged friend to como and shoot
them in the treetops, but they had
flown away before he got hero. We
then bated them into the workshop
and finally caught them and have
sent them to tho country where na-
bors are not so near or so anonymous.
The peafowl is historic bird.
Solomon sent his ships to T,rshish
and brought back ivory and gold and
peacocks. And the Lord said unto
Job: "Who gave to the peacock his
goodly wings" 1t is said to be tho
most magnificent Of all birds; it's
form is elegant; it's movements grace.
ful; It's plumage resplendent with
tints of green. golden, bronze and
blue; its long bushy tail is beautiful
beyond description with its iridiscent
hues, velvet ccntcrs and brilliant eye
spots. In their incomparablo robe
we find all that glistcns in tho rain
bow and sparkles in the mine--the
azure tints of heaven and tho @ cncrald
of the fields Now isn't it pity to
kill bird like that? And yet tho
ancient Romans killed them for their
brains and tongues and il took 1000
to furnish enough for great enter
tainment.
The peafowl is q gallinaceous bird,
but not graminiferons How's that.
1t belongs to tho polyploctron genera
of the subfarnily of pavonne. Just
think of it. The bill is moderate
with the base of tho culmen elevated,
the APPEAL half arched and vaulted;
tarsi long and strong, spurs conical,
anterior toes united at the base and
tho tarsi in tho females tuberculate.
Mirable dictu! Some people don't
know all that. Maybe my anonyrn-
Gus friend didn't know it or he would
have had more consideration for the
bird. Their food is grain, seel and
insects, but they are non scratchibus.
They can't scratch for their legs arc
not built that way. They sing but
one song and that song has bnt one
short strain of two notes that sounds
like "paon," and that word is its
French name. There ia not much
melody in this song, especially when
oft in the stilIy night it tries to play
upon its granmaphono and begins
and finishes with a wild Camanchee
screech Like some children, they