346 Wright, Early Records of the Wild TurUy. [f^ 



of beastes and f oules ; as peacockes, and other whiche they f rancke 

 and feede in their houses." In 1518, Grijalva visits Yucatan on 

 its south coast and reports it ^ " hath also great plentie of f oules ..." 

 In 1519, Cortez ^ send a side excursion to Yucatan and the natives 

 bring "with them eight of their hennes beynge as bigge as pea- 

 cockes, of brownyshe coloure, and not inferior to peacockes in 

 pleasaunte tast." In his "Conquest of New Spain," Bernal Diaz 

 del Castillo in writing of Montezuma's aviary mentions ^ " turkeys" 

 among the "many sorts of birds and other things w^hich are bred 

 in this country." In his "Fifth Letter to Charles V," (1526) 

 Cortez tells of coming suddenly on the natives who ^ " left behind 

 many things, principally fowls, ....," upon which they satisfy 

 their hunger. And many writers have since held that Cortez must 

 have sent turkeys among his numerous presents to his majesty. 

 Lopez de Gomara, in 1553, speaks of the turkey and holds that ^ 

 " the gallipavo, of all the birds of New Spain, is the best for food. 

 It is called this (gallipavo) on account of its resemblance in shape 

 to the peacock (pa von) and to the domestic fowl (gallo). They 

 are able to make the barb or wen on the head pass through consid- 

 erable range of coloration." In his Historia de las Indias" he 

 enumerates^ "gallipavos" among the animals of Yucatan. Pur- 

 chas, in his excerpts from Gomara's "Larger Relations of Mexico" 

 gives us the following regarding Montezuma's aviary and menag- 

 erie : ^ " There were also other Cages for f oule of rapine of all sorts, 

 as Hawkes, Kites .... This house of foule had of daily allowance 

 of five hundred Gynea cockes, . . . . " "In the lower Halles were 

 great Cages made of timber : in some of them were Lions, in others 

 Tigres, in other Ounces, .... They were fed with their ordinary, 

 as Ginea cockes, Deere. ..." In "The Voyage of Robert Tomson 

 into Nova Hispania in the yeere 1555, etc. " we find ^ " as for victuals 



I ibid., p. 188. 



Mbid., p. 193. 

 . 3 Hakluyt Soc, Sec. Ser. XXIV, 1910, Vol. II, p. 61. 



« Hakluyt Soc, 1868, p. 80. 



5 Gomara, Francisco Lopez de. Hist de Mexico, 1553, p. 343. 



s , Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles. Historiadores Primitivos de 



Indias. Tome Primero. Madrid, 1858, p. 181. 



' Purchas His Pilgrimes. Vol. XV. Glasgow, 1906, pp. 536, 535. 



8 Hakluyt, Richard. Principal Navigation, etc. Hakl. Soc. Gla.sgow, 1904, 

 Vol. IX, pp. 357, 342. 



