THE GUINEA FOWL. 169 



to tame them, or render them domestic, turned them 

 at large into the wild savannas, where they have in- 

 creased in such prodigious numbers, that they may 

 well appear to be indigenous. 



Though extensively spread, the Guinea fowl is not 

 even now a very common bird. It is kept in India, 

 but, according to Colonel Sykes, is to be seen only in 

 a domestic state, and is bred almost exclusively by 

 European gentlemen. It thrives, he. adds, as well as 

 in its native country. 



In England, the Guinea fowl is less generally kept 

 than the turkey, nor is it abundant in France. In 

 the colder latitudes of Europe, this bird is very rare, 

 and is, in fact, seldom, if ever, to be seen in Sweden, 

 Norway, or Northern Russia. It is not noticed by 

 Linnaeus in his " Fauna Suecica," though he was well 

 acquainted with the species. In various parts of 

 North America, it is found, and thrives well. 



If, then, in modern days, Western Europe received 

 the Guinea fowl from America, or the adjacent islands, 

 how happens it that, living as it did in the vivaria of 

 the Romans, it should not have spread itself over Eu- 

 rope, and been common in England, from early times ? 

 We are assured that it has been so.. Mr. H. D. Rich- 

 ardson says, " it would be difficult to determine the 

 precise period at which the Guinea fowl was first 

 brought into Great Britain ; its introduction must, at 

 all events, have taken place at a remote date, for we 

 are informed, in Kennet's " Parochial Antiquities," 

 that it was known in England as early as the year 

 1277." If this be the case, how happens it that we 

 see no notice taken of it among such birds as peions, 

 or peacocks, cranes, bustards, and other birds, which 

 figured in the feasts of our British ancestors, nor even 

 at a later time, than the turkey graced the board? 

 Again, had the Guinea fowl been common, would Be- 

 lon and Aldrovandi have ever regarded the turkey as 

 the Meleagris? 



