, W I L D T U R K E Y, , S9I 



lent account given by Athen<eus, taken from Clytus MilefttUy a difciple 

 0I Ariftotle, which can fuit no other than that fowl. " They want, 

 fays he, " natural afFedion towards their young. Their head is 

 " naked, and on the top is a hard round body, like a peg or nail : 

 *' from their cheeks hangs a red piece of flefh, like a beard : ic has 

 " no wattles, like the common poultry : the feathers are black, fpot- 

 *f ted with white : they have no fpurs : and both fcxes are fo like, as 

 *' not to be diftinguifheJ by the fight." Varro* and P//??y f take 

 notice of the fpotted plumage, and' the gibbous fubfbance on the 

 head. Athenieus is more minute, and contradi5i:s every charafter of the 

 Turkey: wh-ofe females are remarkable for their natural afFeftion ; 

 which differ materially in form from the males : whofe heads are def- 

 titute of the callous fubitancci and whofe heels (in the male) are 

 armed with fpurs. 



AldrovandUs, who died in 1605, draws his arguments frorfi' the AiT)R0T*NDu-8|, 

 fame fource as Belon ; I therefore pafs him by, and take notice of 

 the greateft of our naturalifts, Gesner J ; who falls into amiftake of and Gesner* 

 another kind, and wiflies. the Turkey to be thought ar native oitndia. 

 He quotes A£Uan for that purpofe ; who tells us, " that in India are 

 " very large poultry, not with combs, but with various- colored creftsi 

 " interwovert like flowers: with broad tails, neither bending, nor * 



" difplayed in a circular form, which they draw along the ground,, 

 " as Peacocks do when they do not ereft them: and that the 

 " feathers are partly of a gold color, partly hhie, and of an emerald. ^ 

 *\ color ||." 



This, in all probability, was the fame bird with the Peacock Phea-- 

 fant of Mr. Edwards, he Paen de T'ihet of M. Brijfon, and the Pavo 

 Bicakaratus o( Linnaus. I have feen this bird living. It has a creft> . 

 but not fo confpicuous as that defcribed by JEliam but it has thofe 

 linking colors in form of eyes : neither does it ereit its tail like the 



• Lib. iii. c. 9., f.JAh,x^c,z6^ J ./fi;.48i. WDejinm^. 



Eeacockt 



