334 Weight, Early Records of the Wild Turkey. [|^ 



EARLY RECORDS OF THE WILD TURKEY.^ 



BY ALBERT HAZEN WRIGHT. 



One of the best criteria for the determination of our most dis- 

 tinctive and indigenous forms is the perusal of the journals and 

 accounts of foreign sojourners in this country. The wild turkey, 

 "America's noblest game bird" probably receives more extended 

 notice in this manner than any other North American avian form. 

 Furthermore, according to our own chroniclers, no bird enters the 

 life of the early days of this country more than it. 



The explorer. La Salle (Jan. 1687) finds,^ "the Plenty of wild 

 Fowl, and particularly of Turkeys, whereof we killed many, was 

 an ease to our Sufferings, and Help to bear our Toil with more 

 Satisfaction." The early pioneers say,^ "the breast of the wild 

 turkey we were taught to call bread." Their neighbors, the 

 aborigines, pray,^ "O great being! I thank thee that I have 

 obtained the use of my legs again, that I am able to walk about and 

 kill turkeys. ..." The noted guest of this country, Lafayette, 

 takes wild turkeys back with him to his farm at La Grange where 

 he exerts,^ "himself to multiply their numbers." Some courtly 

 travellers like Lady Wortley have,^ " a great fancy for tasting and 



1 The general literature of the wild turkey is quite extensive, and we can mention 

 only a few of the better and more important accounts. They are: Pennant, 

 Thomas, An Account of the Tiu-key. Phil. Trans., LXXI, 1781, pp. 67-81, also 

 Arctic Zool., pp. 291-300; BuJBFon, Complete Oeuvres de. Tome XXXI, Nouv. Ed. 

 Oiseaux II, Paris, 1824, pp. 178-209 (orig. edit. Ois. II, pp. 132-162); Bennett, 

 E. T. The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated. Lon- 

 don, 183.5, Birds, Vol. II; Newton, 1896, pp. 994-996; Grinnell, G. B. Forest 

 and Stream, 1909, pp. 852, 891, 892; Mcllhenny, E. A. Outdoor World and 

 Recreation, Jan. -Mar., Dec. 1913. Jan. and Feb. 1914; Beckmann, John. A 

 History of Inventions and Discoveries. 2nd edit, corrected and enlarged. 4 vols. 

 Vol. II, London, 1814, pp. 350-372. 



2 Joutel, M. A Joiirnal of the last Voyage Performed by M. de la Salle to the 

 Gulph of Mexico, etc. Translation, 1714, p. 82. 



3 Howe, Henry. Hist. Colls, of the Great West. Cincinnati, 1873, p. 210. 



♦ An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Col. 

 James Smith, etc. Lexington, 1799. Reprint, Cincinnati, 1870, p. 96. 



' Levasseur, A. Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825; etc. Transl. by 

 Godman. Phila., 1829, Vol. II, p. 120. 



• Wortley, Lady Emmeline Stuart. Travels in the United States, etc. Diu-ing 

 1849 and 1850. New York, 1851, p. 128. 



