Our Nature Pavillion

PEACOCK FEATHERS "The Eyes of Argus"

Io was a priestess of the Greek goddess Hera. Hera was the jealous wife of Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus was indeed very unfaithful. When Zeus fell in love with Io, he transformed himself into the shape of a dark cloud to hide himself from his jealo us wife Hera. However, Hera looking on earth noticed the small cloud, and suspected that the cloud was one of the Jupiter's tricks. Thus, she approached to check the true nature of the cloud. As soon as Hera arrived, Zeus immediately transformed Io in a white cow to avoid his wife wrath. But Hera guessed the intrigue and asked the cow to Zeus as a gift. Zeus could not refuse such a little gift without giving himself away. Thus, Hera tied the poor cow and sent her faithful servant, Argus, to watch over Io. Argus had a hundred eyes and only a few were ever closed at any time. To free Io, Zeus sent his son Hermes to sing and tell boring stories to make Argus sleep with all his eyes. Hermes told so many stories that finally Argus closed all of his hundred eyes.

Hermes then killed Argus and untied Io who ran home free. Yet when Hera discovered what had occurred, she was so furious that she sent a vicious gadfly to sting the cow forever. Moreover, to honor the memory of her faithful servant, Hera put the hundred eyes of Argus on the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. The hundred eyes could not see any more but beautifully decorate the tail of the peacock.

AUDUBON BIRD CALL

The classic, the one and only, the only one we know of, Audubon Bird Call. Even with today's technology, this little wooden bird call is still the way to draw out birds. It is not meant to mimic a particular bird. Twist the metal top around to mimic the twitter of generic birds to get a reaction and draw out the birds that are around.