
258 WILD TURKEY. 
Though comparatively recent, the domestic state of the 
turkey has been productive of many varieties ; we need not, 
therefore, be surprised at the existence of numerous and re- 
markable differences in those animals which have been domes- 
ticated from time immemorial. The most striking aberration 
from the standard of the species, is certainly the tufted turkey, 
which is very rare, the crest being white in some specimens, 
and black in others. 'Tame turkeys sometimes occur of an im- 
maculate black colour ; others are exclusively white ; some are 
speckled or variegated ; and all these varieties are continued by 
propagation under analogous circumstances. In the wild state, 
a white, or even a speckled turkey, is unknown; and we may 
venture to say, that a plain black one has hardly ever occurred. 
Moehring proposed the name of Cynchramus for this genus, 
as the term Meleagris was used by the ancients to indicate a 
different bird. All other naturalists have agreed with Linné, 
who, though fully aware of the fact, made use of the name we 
have adopted. But he included in the genus two allied species, 
which Gmelin very properly rejected, and placed in a separate 
genus, which he called Penelope, considering the turkey as sw 
generis. Latham again rendered the genus unnatural by re- 
storing one of the objectionable Linnean species, perceiving 
that it was not properly placed in Penelope ; it is, in truth, a 
Phasianus. As now characterised, the present genus is exclu- 
sively American; and by the discovery of a beautiful species 
closely allied to that of the United States, it now consists of 
two species. The ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocelata) inhabits 
Honduras, and may be distinguished from the common species 
by its smaller size, more brilliant plumage, and principally by 
having ocellated spots on the tail. . It was first described by 
Cuvier, and has lately been figured in that magnificent per- 
iodical work, the “Planches Colorées” of Temminck and 
Laugier. A beautiful specimen has long been exhibited in 
the Charleston Museum.” 
* Mr Audubon has recorded the following anecdote of a turkey, 
which he kept for some years in a tame state :-— 
“ While at Henderson, on the Ohio, I had, among many other wild 

