ei4 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



The Mexican Turkey {Meleagris Mexicand) scarcely differs from the above, as before stated, 

 except in the presence of white among the tail-feathers and tail-coverts. It breeds freely with 

 either the wild or domestic races, and is quite evidently only a sub-variety ot colour, descended, 

 and barely distinguishable even now, from the ordinary wild bird of the United States. 



More distinction, however, may be observed in the splendid Honduras or Ocellated Turkey 

 {Meleagris ocellata), found in Honduras, Yucatan, and throughout Central America ; though even 

 this variety is found to breed freely with the domestic birds, the progeny being fertile. In 

 this variety of Turkey, besides the difference of plumage, the haiiy tuft on the breast is absent, 

 and the lower part of the naked portion of the neck is not carunculated as in the common bird. 

 The plumage, however, presents tlie most striking difference, presenting a ground-colour chiefly 

 of the most beautiful bronzed green, banded with gold-bronze, brilliant black, and lower down the 

 back with intense blue and red, resembling shot silk. Near the tail these bands are so sharp as to 

 make the feathers appear almost as if "ocellated" or eyed, as in the tail of the peacock, from which 

 the bird takes its name. The pea-fowl itself could scarcely be more brilliant in appearance, and it 

 is much to be wished that so glorious a bird could be added to our yards; but all attempts hitherto 

 made in this direction have failed. The bird breeds freely, but appears so far to be too delicate 

 for any but a tropical climate, and all as yet imported have died, in some cases however leaving 

 hybrids. In reply to an inquiry of our own, Mr. W. Simpson, Jun., from whom our notes on 

 the American Bronze Turkeys were obtained, informed us that he had himself made several 

 attempts to introduce the Ocellated Turkey north, but that he too had equally failed. He 

 intended however to repeat his attempts in a more cautious manner, and entertained some hope 

 that, by leaving the next specimens he could obtain to breed in the care of friends in the more 

 southern States of the Union, he might get the stock more gradually acclimatised. A breed of such 

 extreme beauty is certainly well worth every effort in this direction, more especially as it appears 

 more naturally inclined to domestication than the wild North American variety. 



No really authentic portrait of the Honduras Turkey taken from life exists, so far as we are 

 aware. The best we have seen is that given by Dr. Brehm, but it appears from the attitude to be 

 drawn from a stuffed bird. 



Passing from the wild Turkey to the domestic bird and its management, we may observe that 

 this too seems to have merged into three tolerably marked and definite varieties, known as the 

 Norfolk Turkey, the Cambridge, or variegated variety, and the beautiful " bronzed " Turkey 

 recently introduced from North America. 



The counties of Norfolk and Cambridge have long been celebrated for the immense number of 

 turkeys they send to the London market, and which constitute a trade as well marked as the 

 poultry-raising which we have already described as carried on in Surrey and Sussex. As a few 

 particulars in this case also may prove both useful and interesting, we extract the following remarks 

 from a paper by Mr. H. H. Dixon in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society:— 



" The eastern counties," he says, " may be said to have pretty nearly a monopoly of our English 

 turkey raising and feeding. Hen-wives are generally 'afraid to meddle with them,' on the score 

 of delicacy ; but if the requisite food and attendance are not found to be thrown away in Norfolk, 

 Cambridgeshire, &c., why should they be elsewhere, except in an essentially damp climate t They 

 must be tenderly reared, and not ' dragged up,' as the saying is. 



" The Norfolk Turkey is black, with a few white spots on its wings. The Cambridgeshire 

 Turkey is of a bronze grey, and rather longer in the leg and bigger in the bone. Very few white 

 ones are to be seen, as they are supposed, like a white long-horn cow, to be more delicate. The 

 adherents of the Norfolk Blacks consider that they lay on more flesh, and that it is whiter and 



