making Darwin sick

Every year around the end of July, the peacock starts to lose his tail feathers. He doesn't need to strut around displaying to anyone and everyone because the mating season is over. He leaves feathers strewn around the garden, one by one, until about a month later (now) he is half the bird he once was. Soon he will be needing extra food to make a whole new tail - a huge amount of protein synthesis!

Charles Darwin once said that he felt sick when he saw peacock feathers because of the difficulty they posed when he was working out his Theory of Evolution. You can read an interesting article about that HERE.

I just pick up all the feathers, wrap them up for storage in plastic bags (moths love feathers!) and then wait until somebody asks me for some. It's not always the big feathers with eyes which people want - the large wing feathers are brilliant for calligraphy. One friend, however, always refuses my offer, believing that its unlucky to have peacock feathers in the house.

We must be the unluckiest household in Scotland!