190 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the “eyes” on the train are deep purple in the centre,
edged with green, brown, black, and lastly chestnut, all beau-
tifully iridescent.

Though long naturalized in Europe, peacocks are origi-
nally from the East, being found in the vicinity of the
Ganges, on the extensive plains of India, in Siam, and also
in Africa.

“ From the number of peacocks which are still found in
India, especially in the richly wooded dells of the Western
Ghauts, not a doubt can be entertained of India being the
native country of these splendid birds. Some of the valleys
they inhabit there, are peculiar and picturesque in a very
high degree. There are often circular valleys, or, as one
might almost call them, cauldrons, so narrow, that the eye
of one standing on the brink can overlook their whole
extent, so deep and so steep in the sides, that it is impos-
sible to descend into them, and with the outlet so rough
and so choked with vegetation, that a passage that way is
equally difficult. In these singular places, peacocks may
be often seen in swarms, and the brilliancy of their colours
adds greatly to the other characters of these curious places.
Of course they feed on the ground, in the openings be-
tween the trees; but the places of their repose, both when