THE TURKEY. 



ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 



" There is no poor animal so beset with 



ignorant and destructive empicism, on its first 

 introduction into life, as the turkey." 



ANON. 



IF we call to mind the many and valuable acquisi- 

 tions, from both the animal and vegetable kingdom, 

 which have been made subservient to the use of man, 

 within comparatively a very recent period, it is not too 

 much to believe that others, of nearly, or quite equal, 

 value, still remain to reward the labor and pains of a 

 persevering search. There is the whole of Central 

 Africa, Central Australia, a great part of China and 

 Northern India, and innumerable half-explored or un- 

 explored islands, all waiting to be ransacked for our 

 benefit. And without depending on those distant re- 

 gions, we know not yet what we may yet find in the 

 unexplored tracts of Oregon, the Rocky Mountains, 

 or other American wilds. 



Amongst the living tributaries to the luxury of 

 man, the turkey is an instance of the results yet to be 

 expected from the exploring spirit of our day. It is 

 the most recent, and, except the hen, the most valua- 

 ble of our domesticated birds. We may, indeed, call 

 it comparatively a new acquisition ; for what, after 

 all, is a period of three hundred years, compared with 



