THE TURKEY. 79 



SECTION X. 



The Turkey. 



OF the TURKEY, or Meleagris, Buffon and others 

 assert there is but one species, and the only varie- 

 ties I am aware of, in this country, are the COPPER 

 and WHITE, the former long in great esteem ; the 

 latter of a most delicate whiteness, contrasted with 

 its red head, said to have been originally imported 

 from Holland : and the Norfolk black already de- 

 scribed, which has been of late years, crossed with 

 the large Virginian turkey, and is now esteemed our 

 finest breed. 



On the etymology of the word turkey I am alto- 

 gether at a loss, unless we may suppose such a 

 name to have been ludicrously bestowed from the 

 ostentatious strut of the bird, by way of comparison 

 with the pompous gravity of the Turk, an idea per- 

 haps countenanced by the notion that turkeys were 

 indigenous to Asia or Africa, and had been origi- 

 ginally imported from thence to Europe. We might 

 formerly, in all probability, be mistaken in the as- 

 sertion that the turkey was entirely unknown to the 

 old world, since it is described by several ancient 

 Greek writers, and also bears its part in their fabu- 

 lous narratives. The Meleagrides, sisters of Mele- 

 ager, son of the king of Macedonia, bewailing the 

 death of their brother, were metamorphosed into 

 turkey-hens. 



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