282 T U R K Y. Class IT. 



ny * take notice of their fpotted plumage, and 

 the gibbous fubftance on their head : lb that from 

 thefe citations we find every chara6ter of the G«/«^ 

 nea hen^ but none that agrees with the Turky. 



Barbotf informs us that very few turkies are to 

 be met with in Guinea •, and thofe only in the hands 

 of the chiefs of the European forts ; the negroes 

 declining to breed any on account of their ten- 

 dernefs which fufficiently proves them not to be 

 natives of that climate. On the contrary the fame 

 writer fays, that the Guinea hens, or as he calls 

 them PinladaSy are found there in flocks of two 

 or three hundred, that perch in trees, feed on 

 worms and grafshoppers ; that they are run down 

 and taken by dogs, and that their flefh is tender 

 and fweet, generally white, though fometimes black. 



He alfo remarks that neither the common poultry 

 or ducks are natural to Guinea, any more than 

 the Turky. 



Neither is that bird a native of JJia : the firft 

 that were feen in PerJIa were brought from Fenice 

 by fome Armenian merchants J. They are alfo 

 cultivated in Ceylon^ but not found wild. 



In fadt the Turky was unknown to the antient 

 naturalKls, and even to the old world before the 

 difcovery of America, It was a bird peculiar to 



* yarro. lib. 3. c. 9. Pliny, lib. 10. c. 26. f Bar bet 217. 

 X Taijernier* 146. 



the 



