° 1915 ] Wright, Early Records of the Wild Turkey. 81 



tion of the County of Prince George in Virginia 1793" John Jones 

 Spoon er presents the last note of the century. 1 " The woods afford 

 wild turkies." 



In the next century, John Woods remarks of Pews Town, Va. 

 that 2 " We were told .... turkeys .... were plentiful in many places, 

 but we had not seen any." Three years later, Blane, (1. c. pp. 84, 

 86, 87, 88, 106) in a journey across the Alleghanies along the road 

 from Hagerstown to Cumberland, remarks (1822-23) that "These 

 mountains abound with such game as deer, wild turkies...." 

 From Cumberland to Wheeling " Wild Turkies .... are uncommonly 

 plentiful in these mountains, owing to the rocky nature of the 

 ground, which will in all probabilities prevent its being cultivated 

 for centuries," and in this region he holds that the presence of 

 rattlesnakes deters hunters from hunting turkies. Finally, at 

 Blue Lick he finds, "The neighbourhood, however, abounds in 

 deer and wild turkeys, which afford excellent sport for a hunter." 

 In 1824, Candler, in "A Summary View of America," (p. 79) 

 remarks that "Turkies are very common." He may be speaking 

 of the domestic form. In discussing the " Physical Geography of 

 Maryland" J. T. Ducatel says 3 "The eastern flank of South moun- 

 tain (valley of Middletown) ... .is the retreat of large gangs of wild 

 turkey (Meleagris gallapavo) . . . . " In 1842, J. S. Buckingham, in 

 speaking of Virginia, says 4 " These potatoes and the turkeys, of 

 which Virginia furnished also the first supply to Britain, have 

 neither of them degenerated in this state, from their ancient and 

 original stock." In 1879, J. T. Scharf publishes his "History of 

 Maryland" in which he asserts that 5 "In the 'backwoods,' the 

 wild turkeys and deer abounded in great numbers; deer and wild 

 turkeys were still shot on the Patapsco at Ellicotts Mills as late as 

 1773 and no man's larder needed to be empty at any time." 



> Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls. Vol. Ill, 1794, p. 86. 



2 Early Western Travels. X, p. 205 (orig. p. 48). 



3 Transactions Md. Acad. Sci. and Lit. Vol. I, Baltimore, 1837, p. 40. 



4 Buckingham, J. S. The Slave States of America, London, 1842. ^ 2 vols. 

 Vol. II, p. 286. 



6 Scharf, J. T. Vol. II, pp. 8, 4. 



