What a magnificent bird the peacock is, with his great train raised and spread, so as to show off all the beautiful eye-like markings! And how _very_ proud of it he seems as he struts about to be admired, as though knowing quite well that everybody is looking at him! People sometimes speak of this train as the "tail." But it really consists of those feathers which are called the tail-coverts, the true tail lying underneath it, and serving to support it when it is spread. Peacocks are natives of Asia, and are found most commonly, perhaps, in India, where flocks of thirty or forty may often be seen, and one traveler tells us that he once saw quite fifteen hundred of these splendid birds all together! They are sometimes caught in a very curious way. The hunter rides up quietly to within a short distance of them as they are feeding on the ground, and then suddenly dashes at them at full speed. Of course they at once rise into the air, and just as they are passing out of reach he strikes at one of them with a very long whip, which coils round its neck like a lasso. Then all that he has to do is to pull it down to the ground. In some parts of India, however, these birds are regarded by the natives as sacred, and no one is allowed to kill them, or even to take them alive. [Illustration: AMERICAN GAME BIRDS 1. Wood-duck. 2. Pheasant. 3. Green-winged Teal. 4. Yellow-legs; Tattler. 5. Widgeon Duck. 6. Canvas-back. 7. Canada Grouse. 8. Blue-winged Teal. 9. Quail; Bobwhite. 10. Wood-cock. 11. Virginia Rail. 12. Common Snipe.] TURKEYS Everybody takes an interest in the turkey--more especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas time!--and many people think that it comes from the country of Turkey, but this is quite a mistake, for it is a native of North America, in many parts of which it is still found in great abundance. The domesticated turkey probably arose from the Mexican variety rather than from the more familiar wild turkey of the Northern States. Some of the flocks seem to consist of cock birds only, and others of hens and young, the reason being that the cocks are very fierce and quarrelsome birds, and will attack and even kill the young ones if they have an opportunity. Until long after her little ones are fledged, indeed, the mother turkey has to take the greatest care of them; for not only are they in constant danger from their unnatural father, but all kinds of other enemies, such as foxes, lynxes, and horned owls, have to be guarded against as well. So she keeps them nearly always under cover, and when at last they are big enough to be taken for a little ramble, she never brings them back to the nest by the path by which they left it.