About peacocks

Swallow

Swallow, any of the approximately 90 species of the bird family Hirundinidae (order Passeriformes). A few, including the bank swallow, are called martins (see martin; see also woodswallow; for sea swallow, see tern). Swallows are small, with pointed narrow wings, short bills, and small weak feet; some species have forked tails. Plumage may be plain or marked with metallic blue or green; the sexes look alike in most species.

Swallows spend much time in the air, capturing insects; they are among the most agile of passerine birds. For nesting, swallows may use a hole or cranny in a tree, burrow into a sandbank, or plaster mud onto a wall or ledge to house three to seven white, sometimes speckled, eggs.

Hummingbird

Hummingbird, any of about 320 species of small, often brightly coloured birds of the family Trochilidae, usually placed with the swifts in the order Apodiformes but sometimes separated in their own order, Trochiliformes. The brilliant, glittering colours and elaborately specialized feathers of many species (usually of the males only) led the 19th-century British naturalist John Gould to give many hummingbirds exotic common names, many of which are still in use—e.g., coquette, fairy, hill star, wood star, sapphire, topaz, sun gem, and sylph.



Ostrich

Ostrich, (Struthio camelus), large flightless bird found only in open country in Africa. The largest living bird, an adult male may be 2.75 metres (about 9 feet) tall—almost half of its height is neck—and weigh more than 150 kg (330 pounds); the female is somewhat smaller. The ostrich’s egg, averaging about 150 mm (6 inches) in length by 125 mm (5 inches) in diameter and about 1.35 kg (3 pounds), is also the world’s largest. The male is mostly black but has white plumes in the wings and tail; females are mostly brown. The head and most of the neck, reddish to bluish in colour, is lightly downed; the legs, including the powerful thighs, are bare. The head is small, the bill short and rather wide; the big brown eyes have thick black lashes.

Penguin

Penguin, (order Sphenisciformes), any of 18 species of flightless marine birds that live only in the Southern Hemisphere. The majority of the 18 species live not in Antarctica but rather between latitudes 45° and 60° S, where they breed on islands. A few penguins inhabit temperate regions, and one, the Galapagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), lives at the Equator.