128 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



At what time the Domestic Turkey was first taken to the 

 islands I did not learn, but probably not very long after their 

 discovery, or certainly soon after the arrival of the first mis- 

 sionary, which occurred in 1820. We may safely assume that 

 soon after some of them wandered away and reverted to the wild 

 state, and now they are found, more or less abundant, in the 

 forest regions of most of the islands. They have not yet become 

 as wary and difficult of approach as are the Wild Turkeys here. 

 The natives trap them with some success. At Haiku I found 

 two hens in confinement, which Mr. Dickey had purchased from 

 a native who had caught them. I studied them with great 

 interest. They were in a large poultry-house, the front of which 

 was closed with slats. On approaching them they showed 

 about as much alarm as our Wild Turkey would, similarly 

 situated. A very decided tendency was shown to revert to the 

 colour of our Wild Turkey. The legs had already assumed a 

 lightish colour with a pink shade, though not so brilliant as in 

 the wild ancestor, but quite unlike the black leg of the black 

 tame Turkey. The colour of the plumage had also undergone 

 a marked change. The ends of the tail-feathers and of the 

 tail-coverts had assumed a tawny or russet shade, hardly so 

 pronounced as in our Wild Turkey, but a great departure 

 from all tame Turkeys. My observations in domesticating 

 the Wild Turkey show that they first degenerate in their 

 colouring in these two points. The white bars on the wing- 

 feathers were there, but they are not always absent on the 

 domesticated Turkey. In form, too, a change was manifest; 

 the legs were longer and the body was longer and more ere.ct 

 than in the tame bird. Altogether the tendency to revert to the 

 form, colouring, and habit of their wild ancestors was very 

 marked. I say their wild ancestors, for I think I showed satis- 

 factorily, in a paper published in the 'American Naturalist' 

 for June, 1877, that the domestic Turkey of this country is 

 descended from our Wild Turkey. 



I heard of the Barn -yard Fowl which had gone wild in several 

 parts of the island, but I did not see any of them. I obtained 

 the most satisfactory account from Mr. Emerson, a son of one of 

 the early missionaries who was located at the north-west end of 

 the island of Ouaha, where the son still resides. The domestic 

 birds escaped from his father's place at least fifty years ago, and 



