The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-30

&c TIC uOG on en-, or WORDS 10 tnat
effect. Yesterday | received a kind
letter from some unknown friend say
ing that IL pcafowls were annoying
the %ncighboring gardens and if they
were not put up they would be killed.
| was Illuminating about this anony-
nous letter and my opinion is that
this is not the best way to make a
complaint. Our neighbors are all
good and kind to us, and l suppose it
was the fear OF giving ofensc that
kept the writer's name from the let
ter, but | really would have Felt bet
ter if the writer had told me face to
face about the peafowIs. AS it is, l
am afraid several n~eighbors have been
feeling unkind and I don't know who
TO apologize to. My wife has told me
several times that she feared the pea
fowls were trcSpassing and that we
had better get rid Of them. Well, VIC
have had four or five every year for
twelve years and they never did any
serious harm to our own garden-not
half as much as some Of our neigh
0ors' chickens and dogs have done,
but folks are folks about such things
and nobody likes to have other folks
bipeds or%quadrupeds providing around.
The pcafowl is such a nice, pretty.
aristocratic bird that We thought the
ncighbors would like to see them &C.
easionally, and il they behaved badly
q few stones and elods and sticks and
wcmanly "shoos' would drive them
away for good, for they arc timid and
easily insulted. AS for putting them
up, we can't do it, for We can't catch
them and they roost 80 high we cant
reach them. A colored Methodist
preacher couldn't. And so when |
got the anonymous letter I engaged a
friend to come and shoot them in the
tree tops, but they had flown away be-
fore he got hero. We then baited
them into the workshop and finally
caught them and have sent them to
the country where neighbors are not
SO neal or SO anonymous.
The peafowl is historic bird. Solo
mon sent his ships to Tarshish and
brought back ivory and gold and pea
cocks. And the Lord said unto Job:
"Who gave to the peacock his goodly
wings" 1t is said to BIO the most
magnificent Of all birds; its form is
elegant; its movements graceful; its
plumage resplendent with tints of
green, golden, bronze and blue; it's
long, bushy tail is beautiful beyond
description, with its iTidosaoat huos,
velvet centers and brilliant eye spots.
In their incompatible robe we find all
that glistens in the rainbow and spar
kles in the mine-the azure tints Of
heaven and the emerald Of the fields.
Now, ism it a pity to kill a bird like
that? And yet the ancient Romans
killed them for their brains and
tongues, and it took 1000 to furnish
enough for a great entertainment.
The pcafowl is a %gallinaceous bird,
but not graminiferous. How's that?
1t belongs to the polyplcctron genera
of the sub-family Of ravonine. Just
think Of it! The bill is moderate,
with the base of the culmen elevated,
the APPEAL half arched and vaulted;
farsi long and strong, spurs conical,
anterior toes united at the base and
tho tarsi in the females t%uberculate.
Mirable dictu! Some people don't
know all that. Maybe my anonymous
friend didn't know it, or he would
have had more consideration for the
bird. Their food is grain, seed and
Insects, but they are non-scratchibus.
They can't scratch, for their legs are
not built that way. They sing but
n song and that song has but one
short strain Of two notes that sounds
like "paon, and that word is it's
French name. There is not much
m%clodyin this song, especially when
oft in the Silly night it tries to play
upon it's gramaphonc and begins and
finishes with a wild Comanchec
serecch. Like some children, they
are to be seen and not heard.
But / have long wondered why the
male was made so much more beauti-
full than the female. This peculiar
distinction seems to mark the males
Of all gallinaceous birds and makes
them arrogant and vain. GAS vain as
a peacock is one Of the oldest pro-
verbs. When one is in full array he
will sit upon the balustrade for an
hour and survey himself in the half
rejecting window glass. What he
would do before a large plate mirror