On The Wing
By Jill Dinsmore
The Land of Nursery Rhymes
Hot July brings cooling showers
Apricots and gillyflowers
GILLYFLOWERS are of several kinds, and the stock is one of the number. A gillyflower may be a stock, or a wallflower, or a clove, or a carnation. The word is often regarded as a modification of July flower, or of the French giroflee; but it has deeper and older roots, being a corruption of the Indian caryophyllou,* the odour of which resembles that of the clovepink. The illustrative passages cited by Dr. Richardson indicate the probability of its being a vagrant sort of word; for in Douglas's translation of Virgil it is spelt jereflouris; in Holland's "Plinie," gillofre; in Spenser's "Shepherd's Calender," gilliflower; and in Burrow, gillyflower. In Parkinson's "Paradisus" we find descriptions of "gillowflowers" of many kinds, the chief being carnations, dame's violets, and stocks. The second in this list is the purple rocket (Hesperis), which is closely allied to the stock. There is a fine subject for a learned discourse in the word gillyflower, but the pith of it is now before you; all that really remains is amplification. And amid a thousand passages that might be quoted by one who should have no better employ than to hunt for them, the mention of the flower by Shakespeare in the "Winter's Tale" would scarcely be equalled for interest:-
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.
Peafowl (Peacock and Peahen)
Peafowl (Pave cristatus) are beautiful birds that are native to India and Sri Lanka. The male peafowl is called a peacock; the female peafowl is called a peahen. In the wild, they live in deciduous tropical rainforests. These magnificent birds do not migrate. A group of peafowl is called a muster or an ostentation.
Anatomy: The male peafowl (called the peacock) is about 84 inches (2.1 m) long. The female (called the peahen) is about 34 inches (0.85 m) long. Both have a fan-shaped crest on the head. The peacock has a long, brilliantly-colored train of feathers that grow from its shimmering blue back. He can raise the train of feathers, forming a stunning display. The peahen does not have a train; her plumage is brown, white, and black.
Diet: Peafowl eat seeds, fruit, other plant material, and some small animals (like mice and insects).
Nest and Eggs: Peafowl build shallow nests made of sticks, leaves, and grass. Nests are usually located in the undergrowth of the rainforest.
