the Ocellated Turkey. 247 



seiim, from the specimen which graced the collection of Mr. 

 Bullock, and which, at the dispersion of that valuable museum, 

 was purchased by the French government ; and we believe 

 that it is still the only specimen known to exist in any collec- 

 tion." This specimen still exists in the collection of the 

 Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, and is in a fine state of preser- 

 vation. I believe that there exists also another in the col- 

 lection belonging to the Earl of Derby ; although I did not 

 see it myself, when I visited that fine collection, in the 

 spring of 1841. But when at the Havanna, I was assured 

 by Mr. Kennedy, one of the gentlemen on the commission 

 for the adjudication of slavers, taken by English cruisers, that 

 such a specimen did exist in the possession of the noble Earl. 

 The bird which is now in the collection of the Garden of 

 Plants, was taken by some wood-cutters at the Bay of Hon- 

 duras, from three which they saw. The specimen was sent 

 alive to England, to Sir Henry Halford, but having been in- 

 jured, died before it reached him, and was presented by him, 

 to Mr. Bullock, and as the writer in the Naturalist's Library 

 says, '' Nothing was recorded of its habits^ and it is not known 

 whether the tail is capable of being expanded as in the com^- 

 mon species." 



This bird inhabits, as nearly as I can learn, all the country 

 to the south of Texas, as far as the Isthmus of Panama, and 

 seems to replace, in those countries, the common wild Turkey, 

 [Meleagris gallipavo,) which inhabits the countries north of 

 this as far as Canada.* Latham says, that it is found in South 

 America, but does not give his authority, and indeed could 

 have had no such authority, as the only specimen which had 

 then been seen by naturalists, was the one above mentioned, 

 which, as we have seen, was taken by log-cutters in the Bay 

 of Honduras ; and indeed, if I am not mistaken, this is the 

 only specimen known to naturalists up to the present day. 

 Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood met with these birds on 

 their former expedition, as far south as they went, and in im- 

 mense numbers, along the shore of the Pacific. 



* I think it very probable that the common Turkey is found in Mexico, as we 

 learn that the first 'lurkeys were sent to Spain from Mexico, and I think it very 

 certain that they were not Meleagris ocellata. 



