80 Wright, Early Records of the Wild Turkey. [j an . 



In a Letter written March 21, 1739, John Clayton of Gloucester 

 Co., Va. writes 1 of "Virginia Game and Field Sports." "Then 

 for fowls (there are) wild Turkey's very numerous" and in another 

 place he contends that "the diversion of shooting Turkies is only 

 to be had in the upper parts of the Countrey where the woods are 

 of a very large extent, and but few settlements as yet tho' they 

 increase daily." Two years later, Oldmixon (1. c. p. 445) remarks, 

 "There's great variety of wild Fowl, as Swans. . . .Curlews. . . . ; 

 and which is best of all of them, wild Turkies, much larger than our 

 tame; they are in season all the Year. The Virginians have 

 several ingenious Devices to take them; among others, a Trap, 

 wherein 16 or 17 have been caught at a time." 



In 1765, Rogers states that the colonists in Maryland, 2 "in their 

 infant state. . . .were greatly assisted by them (Indians) receiving 

 .... plentiful supplies of . . . . turkies." Of the period from 1763 to 

 1783, Jos. Doddridge remarks that, 3 "The wild Turkeys which used 

 to be so abundant as to supply no inconsiderable portion of provision 

 for the first settlers, are now rarely seen." In his "Travels in 

 North America" Chastellux notes 4 the wild turkey only in Vir- 

 ginia. In "Notes of the State of Virginia" written in 1781, Thos. 

 Jefferson merely lists (p. 99) "Meleagris Gallopavo. Gallapavo 

 sylvestris. Wild Turkey " for the state. About this same period, 

 J. F. D. Smyth records 8 " a great abundance of game, such as. . . . 

 wild turkeys," in Pitsylvania Co., Va. At Wart Mt., when he and 

 a young backwoodsman returned, they " brought a fine wild turkey 

 which he had shot : and he carried it along with us in order to dress 

 for supper where we should halt at night." On Little River, 

 " Here we killed another wild turkey and dressed it for supper as 

 before; indeed they were so numerous that we could have easily 

 subsisted a company of men upon them, and might kill almost 

 any number we pleased." Finally, in "A Topographical Descrip- 



i The Virginia Magazine. Vol. VII, Oct. 1899. No. 2, pp. 173, 174. 

 ! Rogers, Major Robert. A Concise Account of North America. London, 

 1765, p. 88. 



3 Doddridge, Rev. Dr. Jos. Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the 

 Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania, from the year 1763 until the year 

 1783 inclusive, etc. Wellsburg, Va., 1824, p. 69. 



4 Chastellux, Marquis de. Travels .... Translation N. Y., 1828, p. 251. 



6 Smyth, J. F. D. A Tour in the United States of America. London, 1784, 

 2 vols. Vol. I, pp. 289, 309, 311. 



