THE PROUD PEACOCK.

AND true enough he is a proud fellow, and a very proud fellow, (there can be no doubt about that,) the proudest fellow in the world! There is no bird or or beast, or fish, or creeping thing so proud as the peacock. He is a beautiful bird, and a very beautiful bird, and yet to our taste there are other birds as beautiful as he, but none of them are so proud. We could laugh at his silly vanity and pride as he struts about the garden walk, or stands erect on the wall, or on some high place, hanging down his splendid train of long feathers, and setting off their brilliant colours to advantage, turning about his head and admiring himself all the time, as much as to say, "Am I not a fine fellow ?"

One of our Natural Historians gives us the following account of this bird:-"This most splendid bird,

a native of India, was introduced into Europe by Alexander the Great, and has been long domesticated in this country. Its head is adorned with a crest of the most exquisite green and gold; its body is brilliantly variegated; but its distinguishing feature is its train, which rises just above the tail, and when erected, forms a circular fan of the most resplendent hues. The two middle feathers are sometimes four feet and a half long, the others gradually diminishing on each side, all spangled with eyes; which, when pleased or in the sight of his mates, he displays in all its loveliness, strutting slowly, and frequently turning round, as if conscious of his elegant dress, and desirous of exhibiting himself to the greatest advantage. The plumes are shed every year, and while moulting, the bird, as if ashamed, keeps out of sight. The peacock, in former times, has been served up at baronial feasts, but its flesh was never esteemed; and it more frequently was exhibited as an article of show, or of veneration, for it sometimes, along with the virgin and the saints, had vows addressed to it by the ignorant Roman Catholic knights. Like other birds of the poultry kind, it feeds chiefly on corn, preferring barley; but at other times it seeks insects and worms, and is very mischievous if it can find any admission into a garden. It always roosts high, and is a proud and quarrelsome bird. The plumage is in its perfect state in its third year. It lives twentyfive years."

The Peahen is somewhat less than the cock, and though furnished both with a train and crest, is destitute of those dazzling beauties which distinguish the male. She lays five or six eggs, of a whitish colour: for this purpose she chooses some secret spot, where she can conceal them from the male, who is apt to break them she sits from twenty-five to thirty days, according to the temperature of the climate, and the warmth of the season. These birds originally brought

THE PROUD PEACOCK.

from the distant provinces of India, have been diffused over every part of the world.

Well now, my little readers, dont you be peacocks; that is, dont you be like them in their vanity and pride. I have said, we could laugh at the silly pride of this bird when he stands shewing his long tail, or when he throws it open and expands its glittering colours in the sun; and there are some little folks

who are just as vain as he is when they have got some new clothes, for they walk along expecting everybody will stand and admire their gaudy apparel.

"How vain we are, how proud to shew

Our clothes, and call them rich and new;
When the poor sheep and silk-worm wore
That very clothing long before."

Little boys and girls should not be like vain birds. They should remember that their chief adornment is not fine clothing, but a sweet and obedient disposition. Everybody will admire a child of this kind, though he should be dressed in very plain clothes; but a girl or a boy who like the peacock is gaily dressed, and like him is of a sour and quarrelsome temper, nobody will admire and nobody will loveso dont be peacocks.

We have not much to say about this little animal, for on searching in various books to find some account we can get very little information. It is mentioned in the Bible, and therefore we thought we would just give a small picture of it. In Psalm civ. 18 verse, "The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies ;" and Prov. xxx.

"The conies are a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks." It appears that they are something of the hare or rabbit kind, but smaller and prettier creatures, with red eyes and very short tails. This is one of the animals which the law of Moses forbade to be eaten, Leviticus xi. 5, "And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you." But some think that the coney is not the animal intended in this Scripture. Bochart thinks that it is a kind of large rat, which inhabits the rocks of Arabia, and goes in troops, chews the cud, and is often eaten by the people; and he says that the real coney is only found in Spain.

THE LIFE CLOCK.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.

THERE is a little mystic clock,
No human eye hath seen;
That beateth on-that beateth on,
From morning until e'en ;
And when the soul is wrapt in sleep,
And heareth not a sound,

It ticks and ticks the livelong night,
And never runneth down.

O wondrous is the work of art,
Which knells the passing hour,
But art ne'er form'd, nor mind conceived
The life-clock's magic power.
Not set in gold, nor deck'd with gems,
By pride and wealth possess'd;
But rich or poor, or high or low,

Each bears it in his breast.

When life's deep stream, 'mid beds of flowers, All still and softly glides,

Like the wavelet's step, with a gentle beat

It warns of passing tides.

When passion nerves the warrior's arm,

For deeds of hate and wrong, Though heeded not the fearful sound, The knell is deep and strong.

When eyes to eyes are gazing soft,
And tender words are spoken,
Then fast and wild it rattles on,
As if with love 'twere broken.
Such is the clock that measures life,
Of flesh and spirit blended;
And thus 'twill run within the breast,
Till that strange life is ended.