278 OF TWO KINDS. [CHAP. in. 



strange Dog made a dash at these and killed them both, 

 though they were in the midst of poultry he did not 

 touch. However, our Dogs very nearly pulled him to 

 pieces for his pains : but it was vexing to lose them in 

 such a way, as no doubt the pair would have bred."* 



We at first suspected that the birds here described 

 might be, perhaps, one a Guan, and the other a Curassow: 

 but Mr. Byam would know those birds from Turkeys ; 

 and Central America belongs rather to the Northern 

 than the Southern Continent, and so would be out of 

 the range of the Cracida}. This circumstance makes 

 the acquisition of live specimens so much the more 

 desirable, and, if they be real Turkeys, or very nearly 

 allied to them, increases the probability of their future 

 domestication in this country as naturally acclimated 

 poultry. They are, moreover, of peculiar interest in 

 reference to the theory of the forms of domesticated 

 animals. The discovery of a wild Crested Turkey, 

 after the instance recorded by Temminck, will much 

 strengthen the belief which we have expressed else- 

 where, that there must have existed at some time in 

 the East, an aboriginal race of Polish or top-knotted 

 Fowls. The crests on the heads of Mademoiselle 

 Backer's Turkeys, will no longer be allowed to have 

 been produced by a freak of nature, any more than the 

 Crested Guinea-fowl, the Peintado Corned of Temminck, 

 and Numida cristata of Lathan, is " a freak ;" but will 

 only prove that the lady had more zealous agents, and 

 consequently a better collection than her neighbours. 



That such birds have existed, not only in Holland 

 but in this country also, cannot be doubted, although 

 we cannot tell by what means they came here. Their 



* Wild Life in the Interior of Central America, p. 154. 



