The marvellously splendid tail of the peacock is held to
be the issue of natural selection, and displayed chiefly for the purpose of attracting the admiration of the hen-bird. It would be rash to dispute with the Darwinians, but the tail is also used, so to say, as an example of " warning coloration " that frightens enemies as well as it attracts friends. Even a turkey cock can hold a fox at bay (as observed more than once) by the angry expansion of feathers and tail. A peacock, perhaps, would seem much more terrible in the eyes of any vermin. In aviaries (where rats are apt to be frequent owing to the supplies of superfluous food) peacocks may be seen as active as any terrier in the pursuit of any rat that appears. They would probably kill the animal with one peck. Even the common domestic fowl is a singularly efficient artist in the destruction of mice. If, for example, a corn- stack is threshed in the neighbourhood of a number of farm- yard poultry not a fugitive mouse will escape. The hens are as efficient as any terrier in this regard; and seem to be possessed with a rage for such destruction. The spectacle of such a scene is strangely grim and repulsive.
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