WILD TURKEYS 
Domesticated by American Aborigines—-Hybridity of Present Stocks—Habits 
of Birds in the Woods— 
Changes Produced Under Domestication 
Review of a Book by Epwarp A. McILHENNYy, Avery Island, La. 
key has inevitably attracted con- 
stant attention since the days of 
the first explorers of America. The 
literature to which it has given rise is 
considerable, but it is doubtful whether 
any writers give a more accurate close- 
range view of the fowl than do those of 
the book here reviewed.! 
As to the first appearance of the bird 
on this continent, authorities differ. 
Marsh described a species under the 
name of Meleagris altus from the Post- 
pliocene deposits of New Jersey, which 
is now held to be the same as Cope’s 
M. superba from the Pleistocene of the 
same state. The material on which this 
species was based consisted of a few 
damaged leg-bones, which Dr. Shufeldt, 
who reviews the subject in the present 
book, thinks may not have belonged 
to a turkey at all. The same may be 
said of another of Marsh’s prehistoric 
species, M. antiquus, described from a 
wing-bone found in Colorado; and to 
still another species, M. celer Marsh, 
re-created from a few doubtful bone 
fragments which, it is admitted, may 
not all have belonged to the same 
individual. 
In short, a careful re-examination of 
the case shows no well-authenticated 
turkeys in the geologic record of 
America. Doubtless they existed, but 
we have not the material to prove it; 
and, as Dr. Shufeldt says, “It is often 
a positive detriment to science, in my 
ARGE and handsome, the wild tur- 
‘The Wild Turkey and Its Hunting. By Edward A. Mcllhenny. 
graphs. Pp. 245, price $2.50 net. 
New York, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1915. 
opinion, to create new species of fossil 
birds upon the distal ends of long bones, 
and surely no assistance whatever to 
those who honestly endeavor to gain 
some idea of the avian species that 
really existed during prehistoric times.” 
When we come to the historic period, 
however, we at once find the turkey in 
practically all the wooded country of 
North and Central America. The first 
description seems to have been given 
by Oviedo in the thirty-sixth chapter 
of his ‘““Summary of the Natural His- 
tory of the Indies,” which appeared 
about the year 1527. ‘‘He speaks of 
it as a kind of Peacock found in New 
Spain, of which a number had been 
transported to the islands of the Spanish 
Main and domesticated in the houses of 
the Christian inhabitants.”’ 
IMPROVED IN MEXICO 
The Spaniards found them thoroughly 
domesticated in Mexico, the tame breed 
having been brought to a size twice that 
of the wild birds, and the Aztec emperor 
Montezuma is said to have raised 
thousands of them to feed the animals 
of his zoological garden. From Mexico 
or Yucatan they were introduced to 
Europe, having reached England, appar- 
ently, as early as the year 1524, and 
quickly becoming very plentiful there. 
From England and Spain they spread 
over the rest of the continent. 
As the Mexican turkey differs in 
many respects? from those of the United 
Illustrated from photo- 
The book was 
written by Mr. Mcllhenny largely from notes left by Charles L. Jordan; two chapters are con- 
tributed by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of Washington, D. C. 
* The systematic position ‘of the various turkeys has been much disputed. At present the 
North American forms are all credited to one species, 
Meleagris gallopavo, the type of which is 
furnished by the Mexican bird, while four subspecies are distinguished in the United States. 
In Greek and Latin the name Meleagris designated the Guinea-fowl, and the early writers on the 
turkey appear to have thought they were dealing with a variety of that bird. The name Turkey 
was formerly thought to be related in some way to the Turks, but is now believed to be either an 
American Indian name or to be derived from the call of the bird itself. 
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