THE TURKEY HISTORIC 43 



North American continent, when Aristotle wrote 

 his work "On Animals," over three hundred 

 years before the birth of Christ, upward of 

 twenty-three centuries ago! A good many 

 changes can take place in the avifauna of a 

 country in that time. 



How these big, gallinaceous fowls ever got the 

 name of "turkey" has long been a matter of dis- 

 pute; and not a few ornithologists and writers 

 of note in the 16th and 17th centuries errone- 

 ously conceived that the term had something to 

 do either with the Turks or their country. But 

 this idea has now been entirely abandoned, for it 

 has become quite clear that, during the times 

 mentioned, the turkey was strangely confused 

 with the guinea-fowl, a bird to which the name 

 turkey was originally applied. 



Later on, both these birds became more abun- 

 dant, as more of them were domesticated and 

 reared in captivity, and the fact was gradually 

 realized that they were entirely different species 

 of fowls. During these times, the word turkey 

 was finally applied only to the New World 

 species, and the West African form was there- 



