HISTORY, EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY 



the belief that our domesticated varieties have arisen from 

 the Mexican wild turkey rather than from any of the 

 other varieties. 



It appears that the Spaniards on conquering Mexico 

 found the Mexican wild turkey in more or less of a state 

 of domestication among the Aztec inhabitants and that 

 they sent specimens of this bird back to Spain. From that 

 country it spread to other parts of Europe and was bred 

 to a considerable extent so that later it was brought back 

 by colonists to the United States and was the foundation 

 from which our present varieties have sprung. It must be 

 remembered, however, that infusions of the common or 

 Eastern wild turkey blood have been made in the domestic 

 varieties with considerable frequency. 



The Honduras or Ocellated Turkey. In addition to the 

 species of wild turkey with its four varieties which has a 

 large part of its range in the United States, there is an- 

 other species of wild turkey known as the Honduras or 

 Ocellated turkey, the range of which is confined to Cen- 

 tral America, extending from Yucatan to Guatemala. 

 This is a very beautiful and much more brilliant bird than 

 the wild turkey of North America but has never been 

 successfully domesticated and has played no part in the 

 making of our domestic varieties. It is a considerably 

 smaller bird. The neck feathers are a bronze black tipped 

 with green, the breast feathers greenish black tipped with 

 bronze, the back feathers bright green tipped with a bril- 

 liant copperish bronze, the fluff blue with a black band and 



