SIXTEENTH CENTURY 105 
assure us of the fact of there being Turkeys in England, and 
that is the first certain date. 
In 1541, in Cranmer’s “A _ Dietarie,’ here alluded 
to, which was probably saved from destruction by the 
antiquary John Leland, and is printed in the posthumous 
“ Collectanea ”’ of that author, it is provided that for certain 
degrees of rank there should be served one Crane, Swan, 
Turkeycock, Haddock, Pike, or Tench, etc. Of lesser birds, 
such as Pheasants and Blackcocks, there might be two. Of 
Partridges an archbishop could have three, a bishop and other 
degrees under him only two. This is the first proof of there 
being any Turkeys in England. 
It is true that we have a suggestion of their introduction 
afforded by certain lines in Sir Richard Baker’s “ Chronicles 
of the Kings of England,”’* which run :— 
“ Turkeys, Carps, Hops, Piccarel [Pike] and Beer, 
Came'into ENGLAND all in one year.” 
This is quoted in Barrington’s Essay on the Turkey + 
with approval, and would be an earlier reference than 
Cranmer’s, but unfortunately it is pronounced by Professor 
Newton to be untrustworthy. 
The Guineafowl.—Another meaning must therefore be 
sought for Brissel-cock. If not intended for the Blackgrouse, 
which is separately specified, it may mean a Guineafowl, 
which is the signification favoured by Professor Newton, 
whose researches led him to conclude that in the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries the Guineafowl and Turkey were 
confounded by several of the medizval zoologists. Chief of 
those who fell into this error were Belon, Aldrovandus and 
Sir Thomas Elyot, the latter of whom in 1542 says, ‘“‘ Melea- 
grides, byrdes which we doo call hennes of Genny, or Turkie 
hennes,” supposing them to be the same. Sir Robert Sibbald 
was one who in this country did not help to clear the confusion 
by giving in 1684 the name of meleagris to the Turkey, among 
the birds of Scotland.t Thus the name Turkey Hen was, 
as Newton observes, at first and for a time synonymous with 
* 1684, p. 298. 
+ ‘“ Miscellanies,” by Hon. D. Barrington, 1781, p. 127. 
+ ‘ Prodromus Historie Naturalis” (Pars sec., p. 16). 
