THE TURKEY, 81 



we have yet to learn, nothing, indeed, is 

 known respecting its manners in a state of 

 nature, nor does it seem to be very abundant. 

 Preserved specimens are in the Britisli 

 Museum, and in the museum of the Zoological 

 Society. 



THE TURKEY. 



The turkey {Meleagris Gallopavo) is origin- 

 ally a native of America. The term meleagris, 

 applied by modern zoologists to this bird, was 

 given by the ancients to quite a different 

 species, namely the guinea-fowl. According 

 to Grecian fable, the sisters of Meleager mourn- 

 ing the death of their brother, were transformed 

 into these birds, the plumage of which is 

 covered with white spots, the showers of their 

 tears. The application of the title meleagris 

 to the turkey, arose from the obscurity in 

 which it was enveloped when it first made its 

 appearance in Europe, and the very names of 

 Turkey, Coq d'Inde, Gallo d' India, and Indian- 

 ische Hahn, prove the ignorance which pre- 

 vailed respecting it. The history of the turkey, 

 indeed, as it respects its introduction into 

 Europe, is almost a blank. When, or by whom 



