ONE HUNDRED EYES IN HIS TAIL!

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

ONE HUNDRED EYES IN HIS TAIL!

Everybody admires the proud peacocks which strut* in the grounds of their own at the zoo. Have you ever been walking near their enclosure when one has spread out his tail and walked back and forth for your approval? Very few people remember that the peacock, now common in almost every country, dates from very ancient times. To the ancient Greeks the peacock was known as Juno's bird. According to an old legend the strange, eye-like markings on his tail were the hundred eyes of the giant Argus, set there by Juno as a punishment for sleeping when he should have been guarding 10. In the days when chivalry was at its height a special feast-dish was the roast peacock, served up garnished with all its beautiful plumage. Solemn oaths were sometimes taken "on the peacock."

Under the Chinese empire a peacock's feather was a distinction awarded to mandarins for conspicuous public services. The famous peacock throne of the Mogul emperors at> Delhi was of unparalleled" magnificence. It had as its background the figure of a peacock with expanded tail, wrought all in gold and precious stones. Perhaps you visited Titania's Palace when it was exhibited in Auckland some time ago. One of the treasures in the Throne Room is the diamond peacock set in the back of the throne. It was made by a French jeweller for the Paris Exhibition in 18o(>, and given to the Empress Eugenie. A second diamond peacock, on the canopy, belonged to an Indian Ranee.