218 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



TURKEY HISTORY AND ORIGIN 



Columbus did not discover the turkey. The Archives of Spain de- 

 clare that Pedro Nino found the first turkeys, known to Europeans, 

 in Northern Mexico, and bore them across to Spain in 1500 as souve- 

 nirs of his trip. 



MEXICAN WILD TURKEYS (See Fig. 1). 



This was the Mexican Wild Turkey, two other varieties existing, 

 the Northern of our own woods and mountains, and the Ocellate of 

 Honduras, South America, the latter never domesticated and having 

 plumage like the peacock. The ancient ornithologists called the big, 

 baldheaded bird "turkey," which at that day signified "foreign," and 

 had no reference to its origin. 



In 1524 some of these Mexican birds were taken over to England, 

 and in the meantime the Cabots had discovered the Northern wild 

 turkey, while exploring the North American Coast and had borne 

 them across to England as curiosities of the wonderful New World. 

 It was soon discovered that the big-breasted bird, as a holiday centre- 

 piece, beat the stuffed piglet; it was bred on the big estates, and an 

 Enarlishman mated a Northern gobbler and Mexican hen, and off- 

 spring from this breeding was brought over to America by settlers 

 and became the foundation of our domestic turkey tribe. We know 

 not how long this strain was bred before it was brought over, but it 

 is declared that this fowl is identical with the English Black Nor- 

 folk of today. 



The Northern wild turkey hen pranced down from the woods and 

 mated with this English mixture, and thence came the Bronze Ameri- 

 cas, largest and most popular turkey. From Black or Bronze, as a 

 sport, came the White Holland, which crossed with other Bronze 

 White Sports has made it almost as large and strong as the Bronze. 



Other varieties are the Naragansett, which is two-thirds Mexi- 

 can and one-third Northern blood; the Slate, half Black and half 

 White, Holland; the Buff, a sport from Black or Bronze; the Bour- 

 bon Bed, half Bronze and half Buff, and the Black, which is sup- 

 posed to be the same as the English Black Norfolk, the first domes- 

 tic strain. 



NORTHERN WILD GOBBLER (See Fig. 2). 



Thus from two species of wild turkeys have come seven distinct 

 varieties in color and size, especially, much different from their wild 

 ancestry. 



The largest wild turkey on record, shot in Pennsylvania, weighed 

 forty-two pounds, but the average size was fifteen to twenty-five 

 pounds. A Bronze turkey-cock, exhibited, weighed sixty-five pounds, 

 and a Texan torn, only ten months old, reached forty and one-half 

 pounds. Craze for color markings has been detrimental, but craze 

 for unnatural size has made many birds flabby— weak breeders— and 

 is one reason for high mortality among poults. 



