a^S- W I L D T U R K E Y; 



Dr. Cains* , defcribes, in the beginning of the reign of EUzaheth, the-- 

 Guinea fowl, for the benefit of his friend Gf/?2^r, under the name of 

 Mekagris, beftowed on it by Arijiotie f. 



Having denied, on the very beft authorities, that the Turkey ever- 

 cxifted as a native of the old world, I muft now bring my proofs of 

 its being only a native of the new; and of the period in which it 

 firft made its appearance in Europe. 

 BUT OF Akericao Thc firft precjfe defcription of thefe birds is. given by Oviedo; who ■• 

 in 1525 drew up a fuma:aary of his greater work, the Hijiory of the:- 

 IndieSySor the ufe of his monarch Charles V. . This learned man had ^ 

 vifited the JVeJi Indies and its iflands in perfon, and payed particular/ 

 regard to the natural hiftory. . It appears from him;, that the Turkey 

 ■ was in. his days an Inhabitant of the greater iflands, . and of the main * 

 land. He fpeaks of them as Peacocks 3 for, being a new bird to him^ ~ 

 he adopts, that name, from the refemblance he ihought they bore 

 to the former :" But (fays he) the neck is bare of feathers, but 

 " covered with a fliin which they change after their phantafie into 

 "divers colours.. They have a horn as it were on their front, and 

 ** HAiREs on the breaft J." He defcribes other birds, which he 

 alfo calls Peacocks. They are of the gallinaceous genus, and 

 known by the name of Curajfaoh'xxd^^; the male of which is black,, 

 the female ferruginous. 



The next v/ho fpeaks of them as natives of the main laind of the - 

 warmer parts of America, is Francifco Fernandez, fent there by 

 PhilipH. to whom he was phyfician. This naturalift obferved them 

 Mtxico, in Mexico^ We find by him, that the Indian name of the male was 



Huexolofl, of the female CihuatoioUn : he gives them the title of 

 Callus Indicus,. and Gallo-Pavo. As the Indians as well as Spaniards 

 domefticated thefe ufeful birds, he fpeaks of the fize by comparifon, 

 faying that the wild were twice the magnitude of the tame ; and 

 that they were ihot with arrows or guns 1|. I cannot learfl the time * 



• 



Caii Opu/c. 93. f Hifi, An, lib. vi. c, z.. J In Furchas,'-ai. 995«. 



\MiJi.. A-iis No'v. imp. zi, 



7;. when., 



