36 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO 1781. 



in the Grainge of Clifton, in the parish of Amhrosden, in Buckinghamshire, 

 among other articles, 6 Mutilones and 6 Afrieanae foeminae, for this fowl was 

 familiarly known by the names of Afra Avis and Gallina Africana and Numida. 

 It was introduced into Italy from Africa, and from Rome into our country. 

 They were neglected here by reason of their tenderness and difficulty of rearing. 

 We do not find them in the bills of fare of our ancient feasts; neither do we 

 find the turkey: which last argument amounts to almost a certainty, that such a 

 hardy and princely bird had not found its way to us. The other likewise 

 was then known by its classical name; for that judicious writer Doctor Cains 

 describes, in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, the Guinea fowl, for the 

 benefit of his friend Gesner, under the name of Meleagris, bestowed on it by 

 Aristotle. 



Having denied, on the very best authorities, that the turkey ever existed as a 

 native of the old world, I must now bring my proofs of its being only a native 

 of the new, and of the period in which it first made its appearance in Europe. 

 The first precise description of these birds is given by Oviedo, who in 1525 drew 

 up a summary of his greater work, the History of the Indies, for the use of 

 his monarch Charles v. This learned man had visited the West Indies and its 

 islands in person, and payed particular regard to the natural history. It appears 

 from him, that the turkey was in his days an inhabitant of the greater islands, 

 and of the main-land. He speaks of them as peacocks; for being a new bird 

 to him, he adopts that name from the resemblance he thought they bore to the 

 former. " But," says he, " the neck is bare of feathers, but covered with a skin 

 which they change after their phantasie into diverse colours. They have a horn 

 as it were on their front, and hairs on the breast." He describes other birds 

 which he also calls peacocks. They are of the gallinaceous genus, and known 

 by the name of Curassao birds, the male of which is black, the female ferrugi- 

 nous. The next who speaks of them as natives of the main-land of the warmer 

 parts of America, is Francisco Fernandez, sent there by Philip n., to whom he 

 was physician. This naturalist observed them in Mexico. We find by him, 

 that the Indian name of the male was huexolotl, of the female cihuatotolin. 

 He gives them the title of Gallus Indicus and Gallo pavo. The Indians as well 

 as Spaniards, domesticated these useful birds. He speaks of the size by com- 

 parison, saying, that the wild were twice the magnitude of the tame; and that 

 they were shot with arrows or guns. I cannot learn the time when Fernandez 

 wrote. It must be between the years 1555 and 1598, the period of Philip's 

 reign. Pedro de Ciesa mentions turkies on the Isthmus of Darien. Lery, a 

 Portugueze author, asserts, that they are found in Brazil, and gives them an Indian 

 name; but since I can discover no traces of them in that diligent and excellent 

 naturalist Marcgrave, who resided long in that country, I must deny my assent. 



