168 



THE GUINEA FOWL. 



amongst the dense underwood, threading the mazes of 

 their covert with wonderful address. The female in- 

 cubates in some concealed spot on the ground ; for the 

 male, as in the case of the turkey, will break the eggs 

 if he discovers them. This habit, unnatural as it may 

 be deemed, appears to be very common among galli- 

 naceous birds. The domestic cock, however, evidently 

 shares in the triumph of the hen, when she has laid 

 her eggs, and answers her peculiar note or cackle of 



joy- 

 it cannot be for a moment doubted that the ancient 

 Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with two or 

 three species of the Gruinea fowl, the descriptions of 

 which hardly answer to those of the present day ; con- 

 sequently it is not easy to trace out its history. In 

 fact, strange as it may seem, that a bird noticed by 

 Aristotle, Clytus, Pliny, Yarro, and Columella, should 

 not ages since have pervaded Europe ; it is not until 

 after the introduction of the turkey from America, 

 that the Gruinea fowl became naturalised in Western 

 Europe. Must we not, then, pardon Belon and Aldro- 

 vandi for considering the turkey as the Meleagris, 

 seeing, if our suspicions be correct, that they did not 

 know the Gruinea fowl ? In short, from ancient times, 

 through the middle ages, and to a comparatively re- 

 cent period, we lose all trace of this bird, and what 

 is more, it appears that the modern Europeans re- 

 ceived it not from Africa, its native country, but from 

 the Western World, to which, with negroes torn from 

 their homes in Gruinea and condemned to slavery, it 

 was transported also. This bird is, indeed, so common 

 in several of the West-India Islands, that some have 

 thought it to be indigenous there ; but this is a mis- 

 take. In fact, in an old work, (Observ. sur les Gout, 

 de PAsie,) we are informed that, in the year 1508, 

 or about that time, great numbers of these birds were 

 carried into America by the vessels which traded in 

 slaves ; but that the Spaniards, instead of attempting 



