332 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



on the lower side, widening outwards. These prepa- 

 rations being completed, Indian corn is strewed for 

 some distance around the pen, to entice the nock, 

 which, picking up the grain, is gradually led towards 

 the passage, and thence into the enclosure, where a 

 sufficient quantity of corn is spread to occupy the 

 leader until the greater part of the Turkeys have en- 

 tered. When they raise their heads, and discover 

 that they are prisoners, all their exertions to escape 

 are directed upwards, and against the sides of the 

 pen, not having sagacity enough to stoop sufficiently 

 low to pass out by the way they entered ; and thus 

 they become an easy prey, not only to the experi- 

 enced hunter, but even to the boys on the frontier 

 settlements." * 



da^ the Guinea-fowl. 



This bird, of which three or four species are known, 

 has some of the characters of the Turkey ; but the 

 tail is short, and incapable of being spread ; the wat- 

 tles are only on the throat, and some possess a hel- 

 met-like callosity on the forehead. The general form 

 is nearly round. They are all natives of Africa, and 

 were well known to the ancients. The domestic 

 species (N. Meleagris), remarkable for its dark-grey 

 plumage, sprinkled with round white dots, and for 

 the tiresome pertinacity of its cry, sufficiently illus- 

 trates the genus. 



* Am. Orn., vol. iv., 175. f From its native country. 



