Vol. XXXIII 



1915 



Wright, Early Records of the Wild Turkey. 6 / 



New Haven. 1 Ten years later, 1770, Wynne claims 2 "New Eng- 

 land produces a great variety of fowls ; such as ... . turkies ....." In 

 1782, Rev. Samuel Peters (A General History of Connecticut, 1782, 

 p. 255) gives turkeys among the feathered tribe in Connecticut. 

 Belknap 1792, in N. H. says 3 "Wild Turkies were formerly very 

 numerous. In winter they frequented the seashore, for the sake of 

 picking small fishes and marine insects which the tide leaves on the 

 flats .... They are now retired to the inland mountainous coun- 

 try." In 1819, Warden repeats the same for N. H. Williams, in 

 his "History of Vermont", just mentions (p. 120) the "Wild 

 Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo." Writing in 1807-1808, Edward A. 

 Kendall, says the Turkey Mountains, (Connecticut) 4 "have their 

 name from the flocks of wild turkeys by which they were formerly 

 frequented, but of which none are at present seen." In New 

 England, Timothy Dwight records, 8 "Turkies" among "the Land 

 Birds principally coveted at the tables of luxury. The Wild- 

 Turkey is very large, and very fine: much larger and much finer, 

 than those which are tame. They are, however, greatly lessened 

 in their numbers, and in the most populous parts of the country 

 are not very often seen." Lastly, in 1842, Zadock Thompson 

 writes of it as follows: 6 " The Wild Turkey. Meleagris gallo- 

 pavo. The Wild Turkey, which was formerly common throughout 

 our whole country, has everywhere diminished with the advance- 

 ment of the settlements, and is now becoming exceedingly rare in 

 all parts of New England, and indeed in all the eastern parts of the 

 United States. A few of them, however, continue still to visit 

 and breed upon the mountains in the southern part of the state. 

 The Domestic Turkey sprung from this species, and was sent from 

 Mexico to Spain in the 16th century. It was introduced into 

 England in 1524, and into France and other parts of Europe about 

 the same time." 



1 Colls. Me. Hist. Soc. First Series. Vol. IV, p. 264. 



4 Wynne, J. H. A General History of the British Empire in America; etc. 

 2 vols. London, 1770, vol. I, p. 41. 



3 Belknap, J., 1. c. Vol. Ill, p. 170. 



4 Kendall, Edward A. Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States 

 in the Years 1807 and 1S08. 3 vols. N. Y. 1809. Vol. I, p. 219. 



6 Dwight, Timothy. Travels; in New England and New York. 4 vols. 

 New Haven, 1821-22. Vol. I, p. 55. 



6 Thompson, Zadock. History of Vermont, Natural Civil and Statistical. 

 Burlington, 1842, p. 101. 



