996 TURNICOMORPH4—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.1 
The genus Meleagris is considered to enter into the Family 
Phasiamdex, in which it forms a subfamily Meleagrinx, 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. 
TURNICOMORPHAL, Prof. Huxley’s name (Proc. Zool. Soc. 
1868, p. 304) for the group of Birds containing the genus Turnia 
(HEMIPODE, p. 415). 
TURNSTONE, the name long given ° to a shore-bird, from its 
1 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 piumage have a bright metallic 
gloss, while the chicks are generally mottled with brownish-grey. White, pied 
and buff 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 JZ. 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, JZ. 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, pl. xl.). 
° The results of a comparison of the skulls of wild and domesticated Turkeys 
are given by Dr. Shufeldt in Journ. of Comp. Medicine and Surgery, July 1887. 
* The name seems to appear first in Willughby’s Ornithologia (p. 231) in 
