It appeared to proceed from the throat of some bird; yet such I think I have never heard before." "But I have," replied Karl; "I heard it also.

I fancy I know the bird that made those wild notes: and if it be one of them the shikaree has shot, we shall have a breakfast fit for a prince, and of a kind Lucullus delighted to indulge in.

But let us obey the signal of our shikaree, and see whether we're in such good luck." They had already regained possession of their guns.

Shouldering them, they started forth from the glade--so near being the scene of a tragical event--and, turning the end of the lake, walked briskly back in the direction of the hut.
On coming within view of it, they descried the shikaree sitting upon a stone, just by the doorway; and lying across his knee, a most beautiful bird--by far the most beautiful that either flies in the air, swims in the water, or walks upon the earth--the peacock.

Not the half turkey-shaped creature that struts around the farmyard--though _he_ is even more beautiful than any other bird--but the wild peacock of the Ind--of shape slender and elegant--of plumage resplendent as the most priceless of gems--and, what was then of more consequence to our adventurers, of flesh delicate and savoury as the choicest of game.
This last was evidently the quality of the peacock most admired by Ossaroo.