Kathy white, age 13, of Victoria, b.c... Canada, for her question:

Where did the peacock originate?

The gaudy peacock is a native of India and Ceylon where he and his relatives still live in the wild state. But the handsome bird has made himself at home in many lands. Travelers to India in ancient days, it seems, wanted to take home one or a pair of the showy birds.

As a rule, the peacock and his family settle down in most countries where the climate is not too extreme. The youngsters, however, cannot survive through long spells of cold weather, and they are hard to raise where winters are long and chilly.