WHITE PEACOCK: whitepeacock

In Asia, the feathers of the peacock are considered auspicious and protective. However in the early part of the 20th-century in the West, it was considered very bad luck to keep them in the home.

Deities and Royalty
The peacock was associated with the Middle Eastern deity, Tammuz, consort of the goddess, Anat. In Greece, it was sacred to Hera, queen of heaven and lawful wife of Zeus -- a pair of them drew her chariot --, and they were kept at her temples. In the Roman Empire, peacocks were Juno's birds and on coins symbolized the females of the ruling houses, the lineage princesses.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
It is considered to be the most beautiful of the peacock species. The male has a long metallic blue crest with white lines above and below the eye. The rest of the head, under parts, and flight feathers are black. The mantle and wing coverts are metallic blue with purple reflections. Its back, rump, and tail are black with rusty brown spots. The upper tail coverts and broad tail feathers have metallic ocelli bordered by black and gray. The male also has two to three spurs on each leg. The female is smaller, with no spurs. She has a crest that is brown and isn't as visible as the male. The face and throat is whitish and the tail feathers has large purple ocelli. The bills are black and the feet are brown in both sexes. The male is attractively colored to attract a female.

BEHAVIOR:
They are very shy, but adapt and breed well in confinement. The male struts and displays to the female with courtship feeding by spreading the feathers of its lower neck and mantle, and bobbing its head with a small piece of food in its beak. The male will drop the food in sight of the female and if she takes the food, the male will make a lateral posture that best shows off all the ocelli on the tail and tail coverts. The crest is then erected and pointed forward. The male also makes a hissing sound while he walks in circles around the female.