1S60.] Notes on the Races of Rein Beer. 391 



an English and Spanish Dictionary of so late as 1740, I find Galli- 

 pavo rendered " a Turkey or Guinea Cock or Hen." Well, it is 

 known that our British forefathers originally derived the domestic 

 Turkey from Spain ; and meanwhile they are likely to have obtained 

 a knowledge of the true habitat of the Guinea-fowl ; and therefore 

 may very probably have supposed the former to be the real Turkey- 

 fowl, as distinguished from the Guiiiea-iovA ; and if the word ' fowl' 

 be dropped in the one instance and not in the other, be it remembered 

 that there was another special meaning for the word Guinea, having 

 reference to the Gold Coast ;* otherwise the bird might have come to 

 be known as the ' Guinea,' as the Bantam-fowl is now currently desig- 

 nated the ' Bantam,' and the Canary-bird as the ' Canary,' or the 

 Turkey-fowl the ' Turkey.'f The latin-sounding name Gallipavo seems 

 to be of Spanish origin, and obtains among the Spaniards to this 

 day ; but their earliest name for it was Ravon de las Indias, " c'est 

 a dire," as Buffon remarks, " Raon des Indes Occidentals ;" which 

 explains the reference to India (perpetuated in Dindon). 



* The name Guinea-pig, I believe, is not a corruption of ' Guiana-pig' (as has 

 been suggested) ; but the animal was brought to Europe in the Guinea slavers 

 on their return voyage ; who also brought sundry small African Finches, which 

 have been described as natives of Brazil. It is curious that the Musk Duck was 

 formerly known in England as the ' Guinea Duck,' also because brought from S. 

 America by the Guinea slavers, and it was considered as a great delicacy for the 

 table ; and the white breed of it is mentioned by Dr. Caius, so early as 1570, by 

 the name of the ' Turkish Duck !' This species was noticed by Crawfurd in the 

 Siamese capital, and there known as the ' Manilla Duck.' It has long been 

 diffused over S. E. Asia, and is now common even in Polynesia. (Vide Ellis's 

 Missionary Tour through Haioaii, &c.) 



f Another curious instance of the kind is that of the small speckled red 

 Einches of India (Estrelda amakdava), which have long been known in Eng- 

 land by the name of ' Amadavats.' They are more than once familiarly referred 

 to, as ' Amadavats,' in Sheridan's 'School for Scandal' (Act V, Sc. 1), brought 

 out in 1777. And they actually take this name from the city of Ahmedabad in 

 Guzerat ! Witness the following passage from ' A New Account of East India 

 and Persia,' by John Fryer, M. D., Cantabriy. (1698). Among other curiosities 

 brought to Surat, were — " From Amadavad small birds, who, besides that they 

 are spotted with red no bigger than measles, the principal chorister beginning, 

 the rest in concert, make an admirable chorus." In the 'History of the Settle- 

 ments of the Europeans in the East and West Indies,' translated from the 

 French, by J. Justamont in 1776, I find the name of the Guzerat city spelt 

 Amadabat ! And hence, again, the specific name Amandava of Linnasus, and 

 the generic name Amadina of Swainson ! The French term these pretty little 

 birds Bengalis, adopted as the English generic appellation by Swainson in treat- 

 ing of sundry African species. Our Indian bird is the Bengalus punctulatus of 

 Brisson, le Bengali piquete of Buffon, and Amaduvade Finch of Albin (about 

 1750). The name Bengali has probably reference to Benguela in W. Africa, 

 whence sundry of the tribe had been brought to Europe. 



