62 



" So involved in obscurity," says Mr. Martin, " is the early 

 history of the Turkey, and so ignorant do the writers of the six- 

 teenth and seventeeth centuries appear to have been about it, that 

 they have regarded it as a bird kuown to the ancients by the name 

 of ' Meleagris,' namely, the Guinea-fowl or Pintado, a mistake whieh 

 was not cleared up until the middle of the eighteenth century. The 

 appellation of Turkey which the bird bears iu our country, arose, 

 according to Willoughby, from a supposition that it came originally 

 from the country so called. Mexico was first discovered by Grijalva 

 in 1518. Oviedo speaks of the Turkey as a kind of peacock abound- 

 ing in New Spain, vvhich had already, in 1526, been transported in a 

 domestic statė to the islauds and the Spauish Maiu, where it was 

 kept by the Christian colonists. It is re])orted to have been intro- 

 duced into Eugland in 1524, and is enumerated asamong the dainties 

 of the table in 1541. In 1573 it had become the customary Christ- 

 mas fare of the farmer." Every author who has written on the subject 

 since the days of Linnaeus has cousidered it to be derived from the 

 wen-known wild Turkey of North America, but on account of the great 

 differences \vluch are met with among our domestic Turkeys, and 

 the circumstance of the wild Turkeys recently imported from North 

 America not readily associating or pairing \vith them, I have for 

 sonie years past entertained a contrary opinion. This opinion may 

 be met by sonie persons with the remark, that similar and even 

 greater differences occur among our domestic poultry. True — but I 

 believe that these differences are due to an admixture of two, three, 

 or more species, and that in no case wouId the domestication of a 

 single species produce characters so decided as those exhibited by 

 the two birds now on the table. 



In Canada and the United States the Turkey is partially migra- 

 tory, visidng those countries during the summer, for the purpose of 

 breeding, and although some ■vvriters statė that it is a native of 

 Mexico, I can hardly think it likely that it rangės very far south in 

 the latter country, for, from the southern boundary of Canada to 

 Mexico is nearly 2000 miles, and it is unlikely, I think, that a bird 

 of the cold regions of Canada should also be indigeuous to the hotter 

 country of Mexico, whence, and not from North America, the Turkey 

 was originally introduced into Europe by the Spaniards early in the 

 sixteenth century. 



Belienng this bird to be distinct from the North American species, 

 it becoraes uecessary that one of them should receive a new name, 

 and a ąuestion then arises to vvhich of the two should it be given. 

 My opinion is, that it \nll be better to retain the term Gallopavo for 

 the North American species, and to call the present one Mexicana, 

 after the country of vvhich it is a native. Linnaeus' Meleagris Gallo- 

 pavo is founded upon the Gallopavo sylvestris of Brisson's ' Ornitho- 

 logie,' vol. i. p. 1 62, and upon Ray's Nevv England Wild Turkey, both 

 of vvhich names appertain to the North American species; consequently 

 the term Mexicana vvould be a fit appellation for the present bird. 

 I may mention, that it is the only example of a Turkey I have ever 

 seen from ]Mexico, and that it vvas brought to this country by the 



