Chap. VIII. TURKEY. 309 



if precluded from crossing with other breeds propagate their 

 kind truly. Of these kinds, the most distinct is the small, 

 hardy, dull-black Norfolk turkey, of which the chickens are 

 black, occasionally with white patches about the head. The 

 other breeds scarcely differ except in colour, and their chickens 

 are generally mottled all over with brownish-grey. 39 The in- 

 ferior tail-coverts var} 7 in number, and according to a German 

 superstition the hen lays as many eggs as the cock has 

 feathers of this kind. 40 Albin in 1738, and Temminck within a 

 much later period, describe a beautiful breed, dusky-yellowish, 

 brown above and white beneath, with a large top-knot of 

 soft plumose feather. The spurs of the male were rudimentary. 

 This breed has been for a long time extinct in Europe; but 

 a living specimen has lately been imported from the east 

 coast of Africa, which still retains the top-knot and the 

 same general colouring and rudimentary spurs. 41 Mr. Wilmot 

 has described 42 a white turkej^-cock having a crest formed of 

 " feathers about four inches long, with bare quills, and a tuft 

 of soft white down growing at the end." Many of the 

 young birds inherited this kind of crest, but afterwards 

 it fell off or was pecked out by the other birds. This is an 

 interesting case, as with care a new breed might probably 

 have been formed ; and a top-knot of this nature would have 

 been to a certain extent analogous to that borne by the males 

 in several allied genera, such as Euplocomus, Lophophorus, 

 and Pavo. 



Wild turkeys, believed in ever} 7 - instance to have been im- 

 ported from the United States, have been kept in the parks 

 of Lords Powis, Leicester, Hill, and Derby. The Eev. W. I). 

 Fox procured birds from the two first-named parks, and he 

 informs me that they certainly differed a little from each 

 other in the shape of their bodies and in the barred plumage 

 on their wings. These birds likewise differed from Lord 

 Hill's stock. Some of the latter kept at Oulton by Sir P. 



39 'Ornamental Poetry,' by the Oct. 31, 1868, p. 233; and Mr. 

 Rev. E. S. Dixon, 1848, p". 34. " Tegetmeier in the 'Field,' July 17, 



40 Bechstein, ' Naturgesch. Deutsch- 1869, p. 46. 



lands,' B. iii., 1793, s. 309. 42 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1852, p. 



41 Mr. Bartlett in ' Land and Water,' 699 . 



