Class II. TURKY. 375 



America. It was a bird peculiar to the new 

 continent, and is now the commonest wild 

 fowl of the northern parts of that country. 

 It was first seen in France, in the reign 

 of Francis I. and in England, in that of Henry 

 VIII. By the date of the reign of these mon- 

 archs, the first birds of this kind must have 

 been brought from Mexico, whose conquest was 

 completed, a. d. 1521, the short lived colony 

 of the French in Florida not being attempted 

 before 1569,; nor our more successful one in 

 Virginia, effected till 1585; when both those 

 monarchs were in their graves. 



JElian, indeed, mentions a bird found in In- 

 dia* which some writers have suspected to be 

 the Turky, but we conclude with Gesner, that it 

 was either the Peacock, or some bird of that 

 genus. On consulting some gentlemen who 

 have long resided in the East Indies, we find, 

 that though the Turky is bred there, it is only 

 considered as a domestic bird, and not a native 

 of the country. 



* JEliani hist, an, lib. xvi. c. 2. 



