James Clerk Maxwell Viewed Peacocks as Good Garden Companions

"We got our original stock [of peacocks] from Mrs McCunn, at Ardhallow.
At that time (1860), the garden was the finest on the coast, and the peacocks sat on the parapets & banks near the house."

June 13, 1831

On this day, the scientist James Clerk Maxwell was born.

Maxwell is remembered for his formulation of the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation.

In 1922, when Albert Einstein visited the University of Cambridge, his host announced that Einstein had done great things because he stood on Isaac Newton's shoulders.

Einstein replied,

"No, I don't. I stand on the shoulders of Maxwell."

In 1879, Maxwell wrote a letter to his friend William Thompson.

It's a letter gardeners can delight in:

Peacocks as Gardeners

We got our original stock [of peacocks] from Mrs McCunn, at Ardhallow.

At that time (1860), the garden was the finest on the coast, and the peacocks sat on the parapets & banks near the house.

Mr. McCunn was very fond of his garden and very particular about it, but he also cared for his peacocks...
Whenever he went out, he had bits of bread and such for them.

Mrs. Maxwell (my wife) always gets the peacocks to choose the gardener, and they have chosen one who has now been with us seven years.

The peacocks will eat the young cabbages, but the gardener tells them to go...

They find it pleasanter to be about the house and to sit on either side of the front door.

Mrs. Maxwell will not send them [to you] unless, on consideration, they would be acceptable.