Parker Brothers Pastime puzzle sawed by #754 1940/50's. Interlocking, cut along color lines with 24 figure pieces. Unknown artist. Note peacock with long feathery train in foreground. Estates back then seem to have at least one peacock wandering the grounds. The functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large "train" of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested that they served to attract females, and the showy features of the males had evolved by sexual selection. More recently, Amotz Zahavi proposed in his handicap theory that these features acted as honest signals of the males' fitness, since less-fit males would be disadvantaged by the difficulty of surviving with such large and conspicuous structures.. Wikipedia. I like to think the fully spread train of a peacock, thus increasing the size of its appearance, may intimidate its enemies.