996 TURNICOMORPH^— TURNSTONE 



figured by Belon (Oyseaux, p. 249), as was the cock by Gesner in 

 the same year, and these are the earliest representations of the bird 

 known to exist.^ 



The genus Meleagris is considered to enter into the Family 

 Phasianidse, in which it forms a subfamily Meleagrinse, peculiar to 

 North and Central America.^ The fossil remains of three species 

 have been described by Prof. Marsh — one from the Miocene of 

 Colorado, and two, one much taller and the other smaller than the 

 existing species, from the Post-Pliocene of New Jersey. Both the 

 last had proportionally long and slender legs. 



TURNICOMOEPH^, Prof. Huxley's name {Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1868, p. 304) for the group of Birds containing the genus Turnix 

 (Hemipode, p. 415). 



TURNSTONE, the name long given ^ to a shore-bird, from its 



^ There is no need to describe here a bird so familiar and in these days so 

 widely distributed. As a denizen of our poultry-yards there are at least two 

 distinct breeds, though crosses between them are much commoner than purely- 

 bred examples of either. That known as the Norfolk breed is the taller of the 

 two, and is said to be the more hardy. Its plumage is almost entirely black, 

 with very little lustre, but the feathers of the tail and some of those of the 

 back have a brownish tip. The chicks also are black, with occasionally white 

 patches on the head. The other breed, called the Cambridgeshire, is much 

 more variegated in colour, and some parts of the plumage have a bright metallic 

 gloss, while the chicks are generally mottled with brownish-grey. White, pied 

 and butf Turkeys are also often seen, and if care be taken they are commonly 

 found to "breed true." Occasionally Turkeys, the cocks especially, occur with 

 a top-knot of feathers, and one of them was figured by Albin in 1738. It has 

 been suggested with some appearance of probability that the Norfolk breed may 

 be descended from the northern form, Meleagris gallopavo or americana, while 

 the Cambridgeshire breed may spring from the southern form, the J/, mexicana of 

 Gould {Proc. Zool. Soc. 1856, p. 61), which indeed it very much resembles, 

 especially in having its tail-coverts, and quills tipped with white or light 

 ochreous, — points that recent North -American ornithologists rely upon as 

 distinctive of this form. If this supposition be true, there would be reason to 

 believe in the double introduction of the bird into England at least, as already 

 hinted, but positive information is almost wholly wanting. The northern form' 

 of wild Turkey, whose habits have been described in much detail by all the 

 chief writers on North-American birds, is now extinct in the settled parts of 

 Canada and the eastern States of the Union, where it was once so numerous ; 

 and in Mexico the southern form, which would seem to have been never 

 abundant since the conquest, has been for many years rare. Still further to 

 the south, on the borders of Guatemala and British Honduras, there exists a 

 perfectly distinct species, M. ocellata, whose plumage almost vies with that of 

 a Peacock in splendour, while the bare skin which covers the head is of a deep 

 blue studded with orange caruncles (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, pi. xl.). 



2 The results of a comparison of the skulls of wild and domesticated Turkeys 

 are given by Dr. Shufeldt in Journ. of Comp. Ifedicine and Surgery, July 1887. 



* The name seems to appear first in Willughby's Ornithologia (p. 231) in 



