GALLINACE., 349 
the tail red. The young, and the female, are brown, dashed 
with grey and fawn-colour.(1) Pha 
ee ’ . = 
Me.eaeris,. Lin.(2) 
The Turkeys have their head and upper part of the neck invested with 
a plumeless and papillated skin; an appendage under the throat, and 
another conical one on the forehead, which, in the male, when ex- 
cited by passion, becomes so inflated and.long, as to *hdnaever the 
point of the beak. From the lower part of the neck of the adult male 
hangs a tuft or tassel of stiff hairs; the coverts of the tail Shorter and 
stiffer than in the Peacock can be erected and displayed in the same 
way. The tarsi of the male are armed with weak spurs. » But one 
species was known for a long time. P 
Meleagris gallo-pavo, L.3 Enl. 97. (The Common Turkey. ) 
Introduced into Europe from America in the sixteenth century. 
The size of this noble bird, and the goodness of its flesh, have 
rendered it extremely common. The Wild Turkey of America, 
Vieill. Gal. 201, is of a greenish brown, with a copper gloss. 
A second species, however, 
M.  ocellata, Cuv. Mem. Mus., VI, pl. 15 ‘Col., 112, has lately 
been ‘dgsofibed: almost equal to the Pedtock i in the brilliancy of 
its colours, and particularly in the sapphite coloured spots, sur- 
- rounded with circles of gold and ruby, which decorate the tail. 
It was captured in.the bay of Honduras. 
¢ Numipa, Lin.’3) 
The Guinea-fowls, or Pintados, have a naked head, fleshy wattles 
at the bottom of the cheeks, a short tail, and the cranium generally 
surmounted with a callous crest. Their feet are without spurs; their 
short} pendent tail, and the quantity of feathers on the rump, give*a 
spherical air to the body. The common species, 
N. meleagris, L.; Enl. 108 (The Common Guinea-Hen), 
originally from Africa, has a slate-coloured plumage, every 
(1) #lian appears to have previously known and described it, Hist., anno. L. 
XVI, c. 2. Add the lophophore, Cuv., Tem. Col. pl. 1, with a pendent crest, black 
body, and the edges of the dorsal feathers white; discovered by M. Duvaucel. It 
is, perhaps, the Phasianus lewcomelanos of Lath. The female is brown, edges of 
the feathers on the breast whitish. 
(2) Mrzeacris is the Greek name of the Guinea-Hen, erroneously applied by 
Linnzus to the Turkey. 
(3) These birds were called Meleagrides by the ancient Greeks, who supposed 
them to have sprung from the metamorphosis of Meleager’s sisters. They looked 
upon the spots on the feathers as traces of tears. The Romans called them Afri- 
can Hens, &c. They have been found no where by the moderns exceptin Guinea. 
