Hot July brings cooling showers
Apricots and gillyflowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The Land of Nursery Rhymes”

 

Strange how out of the blue an idea is presented.  This happened on the way up north to last month’s garden club meeting.  There was an abandoned garden with fruit trees and an old barn.  In the long grass our driver spotted two large birds.  At the first available road to turn around, back we went and there next to the corn field, miles from anywhere, were two beautiful peacocks. 

The American College Dictionary states:
       Peacock – the male of the peafowl (Pavo Cristatus) a native of India, but widely domesticated. Distinguished for its long erectile, oceilated tail, now covered with rich iridescent coloring of green, blue, gold.  These birds were taken as a type of vain glory and a symbol of immortality.

The female is called a peahen.  The peacock has an overall length of six and one half foot with the body only accounting for three feet so they must be enjoying three and one half feet of pure vanity, but aren’t they spectacular!  Many have been fortunate to see them strutting in the gardens of Versailles and other stately homes. “Everybody who is anyone has peacocks in their gardens.” This family of birds is known as Galliformes and includes over 300 species throughout the world.  Nearly 25% of the species are at risk of becoming extinct.  Birds of this family have short flight patterns and meaty bodies, particularly the legs and breast.  More commonly known ones include the farm yard chicken, which is the domesticated version of the Red Jungle fowl.  The partridge, quail, grouse, turkey, pheasant, and guinea fowl are members of this family, also known as game birds.  In England alone, up to 30 million birds are released each autumn for hunting.