that the plumage of the latter was
perhaps rather thicker. Whether our birds are descended from those
introduced into Europe in the time of Alexander, or have been subsequently
imported, is doubtful. They do not breed very freely with us, and are
seldom kept in large numbers,--circumstances which would greatly interfere
with the gradual selection and formation of new breeds.

There is one strange fact with respect to the peacock, namely, the
occasional appearance in England of the "japanned" or "black-shouldered"
kind. This form has lately been named on the high authority of Mr. Sclater
as a distinct species, viz. _Pavo nigripennis_, which he believes will
hereafter be found wild in some country, but not in India, where it is
certainly unknown. These japanned birds differ conspicuously from the
common peacock in the colour of their secondary wing-feathers, scapulars,
wing-coverts, and thighs; the females are much paler, and the young, as I
hear from Mr. Bartlett, likewise differ. They can be propagated perfectly
true. Although they do not resemble the hybrids which have been raised
between _P. cristatus_ and _muticus_, nevertheless they are in some
respects intermediate in character between these two species; and this fact
favours, as Mr. Sclater believes, the view that they form a distinct and
natural species.[468]

On the other hand, Sir R. Heron states[469] that this breed suddenly
appeared within his memory in Lord Brownlow's large stock of pied, white,
and common peacocks. The same thing occurred in Sir J. Trevelyan's flock
composed entirely of the {291} common kind, and in Mr. Thornton's stock of
common and pied peacocks. It is remarkable that in these two latter
instances the black-shouldered kind increased, "to the extinction of the
previously existing breed." I have also received through Mr. Sclater a
statement from Mr. Hudson Gurney that he reared many years ago a pair of
black-shouldered peacocks from the common kind; and another ornithologist,
Prof. A. Newton, states that, five or six years ago, a female bird, in all
respects similar to the female of the black-shouldered kind, was produced
from a stock of common peacocks in his possession, which during more than
twenty years had not been crossed with birds of any other strain. Here we
have five distinct cases of japanned birds suddenly appearing in flocks of
the common kind kept in England. Better evidence of the first appearance of
a new variety could hard