88 THE WILD TURKEY. 



nally imported from thence to Europe. We might 

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

 tion 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. 



This reading, however, has not produced a final 

 decision, since the indigenous country of the turkey 

 has remained a question with the learned ornitho- 

 logists : those opposed to the pretension of the 

 ancients asserting, that the Greek Meleagris, in 

 reality, was not a turkey, but gallina dfricana, in 

 modern English, a Guinea fowl. The error of sup- 

 posing this bird of ancient Greece to have been a 

 turkey, is said to have resulted from an observation 

 made by Aristotle, that the bird laid spotted eggs, 

 as our English turkeys do ; but it is also observable, 

 that such is not the case with the turkeys of other 

 countries. The disputants on this side the question 

 assign the honour to America, as being the indige- 

 nous country of the turkey ; and the fact that turkeys 

 were unknown to Europe, until the discovery of Ame- 

 rica, seems to afford considerable support to argu- 

 ments on that side. Moreover, the gallina Africana, 

 as we learn from Kennet's Parochial Antiquities, was 

 known in England as early as the year 1277. 



The turkey was seen in America by the first dis- 

 coverers, and intituled, by the Spanish doctor Fer- 

 nandez, gallus Indicus, and gallus pavo, the peacock 

 of the Indies. They were both in a wild and do- 



