No. 133.] 161 



been fully refuted by the eloquent Buffon, the unrivalled natu- 

 ralist of his day, who unqualifiedly gives America, as the true 

 place of its nativity. 



The first description of the turkey was given by Ciriedo, in 

 1525, in the summary of his History of the Indies. This bird, 

 it is said, by several good authorities, was sent from Mexico to 

 Spain, early in the sixteenth century ; from Spain it was intro- 

 duced into England in 1524; France, some years after, whence 

 they spread into Germany, Italy, &c. A few, however, had been 

 carried to the latter country by the Spaniards some years previ- 

 ously. The first turkey eaten in France, appears to have been 

 serred up at the wedding banquet of one of her kings, in the year 

 1570. Europeans conveyed them to all their colonies, and thus 

 were they gradually introduced into Asia, Africa, &c. The French 

 distinguished them by the name of coq et poul dUnde^ (cock and 

 hen from India,) because they supposed them natives of the West 

 Indies. Subsequently, for the sake of brevity, they called them 

 Dindon, a name which is still retained. The English name is 

 even worse, as it conveys the false idea that the turkey originated 

 in Asia, owing to the ridiculous habit formerly prevalent in the 

 old world, of calling every foreign uncommon object by the name 

 ofTurk, Indian, &c. 



There are two Encyclopaedias printed in our country, both quite 

 voluminous works, the one called Americana^ the other American ; 

 the former devotes not quite a column to a description of the 

 wild turkey, and is tolerably fair as far as it go«s, but is rather 

 short and general, considering the importance of the subject j the 

 latter does not occupy two lines ; we will give the precise words : 

 " Turkey_, a large domestic fowl, supposed to be brought from 

 Turkey."' This laconic history of the bird does not accord much 

 with th6 first half of the title of the work American. Short, as 

 it is, it contains a gross error, in giving the supposed native 

 country of the turkey. He has been styled by some silly, he is 

 susceptible of very strong lively emotions, which do not accord 

 with weak intellect ; let any sharp sound like whistling, strike 

 his ear, and it excites his ire, or any thing red strike his sight, 

 and he shows both courage and anger on such occasions. The 



[Assembly, No. 133.] H 



