176 Naturalist at Large 



any of the peoples of Asia had the fowl, the turkey has 

 not proved plastic at all. Cortez sent domesticated birds 

 which he found in Mexico back to Europe. From there 

 they spread all over the world. They came to New Eng- 

 land, and to this day domesticated turkeys, most of them, 

 are hard to tell from wild birds. A few varieties have been 

 produced, but only by the chance dropping out of ele- 

 ments of the normal pigmentation of the bird's plumage. 

 In the reddish-colored turkeys, the black or the dilute black 

 pigment — the gray — has gone and the red element alone 

 remains. In the white turkeys all pigmentation has disap- 

 peared; albino races are always easy to produce in domes- 

 tication. White rats and mice and guinea pigs come to 

 mind, as well as leghorn fowl and fantail pigeons. 



I visualized an exhibit around William Endicott's mag- 

 nificent bull bison, not using the animal as a zoological 

 object, a member of the Bovidae, but as a creature which 

 provided food, shelter, sport, and even an object of wor- 

 ship to many tribes of Indians. And here illustrative mate- 

 rial is abundant and spectacular. 



The Museum had a first-class ostrich, given it some 

 years ago by Mrs. Stephen Philhps — an ostrich far too 

 good to throw away. By good fortune, I had a sample of 

 dried ostrich meat, one of the various kinds of "biltong" 

 carried by the Boers as rations when at war or on trek. 

 An ostrich feather fan, an old-time bonnet, and headdresses 

 of the Nandi Masai all proved obtainable. 



Tliink what a story you can build about the giant tor- 

 toise of the Galapagos. The old whalers called them turpin. 

 For generations all of the ships that chanced to be near the 

 Galapagos Islands, about six hundred miles southwestward 



