The old mansion had a still more venerable look in the yellow
sunshine than by pale moonlight; and I could not but feel the
force of the squire's idea that the formal terraces, heavily
moulded balustrades, and clipped yew trees carried with them an
air of proud aristocracy. There appeared to be an unusual number
of peacocks about the place, and I was making some remarks upon
what I termed a flock of them that were basking under a sunny
wall, when I was gently corrected in my phraseology by Master
Simon, who told me that according to the most ancient and
approved treatise on hunting I must say a muster of peacocks. "In
the same way," added he, with a slight air of pedantry, "we say a
flight of doves or swallows, a bevy of quails, a herd of deer, of
wrens, or cranes, a skulk of foxes, or a building of rooks." He
went on to inform me that, according to Sir Anthony Fitzherbert,
we ought to ascribe to this bird "both understanding and glory;
for, being praised, he will presently set up his tail, chiefly
against the sun, to the intent you may the better behold the
beauty thereof. But at the fall of the leaf, when his tail
falleth, he will mourn and hide himself in corners till his tail
come again as it was.
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