THE TURKEY HISTORIC 45 



pretty general that this was done by Oviedo in 

 the thirty-sixth chapter of his "Summario de la 

 Natural Historia de las Indias," which it is 

 stated appeared about the year 1527. 



Professor Spencer F. Baird, apparently quot- 

 ing Martin, says: "Oviedo speaks of the turkey 

 as a kind of peacock abounding in New Spain, 

 which had already in 1526 been transported in a 

 domestic state to the West India Islands and 

 the Spanish Main, where it was kept by the 

 Christian colonists." 1 



In an elegant and comprehensive article on 

 "The Wild Turkey," Bennett states: "Oviedo, 

 whose Natural History of the Indies contains the 

 earliest description extant of the bird, and whose 

 acquaintance with the animal productions of the 

 newly discovered countries was surprisingly ex- 

 tensive. He speaks of it as a kind of Peacock 



^aird, Spencer F. The Origin of the Domestic Turkey. Rep. of 

 the Comm. of Agricul. for the year 1866. Washington Gov. Printing 

 Office, 1867, pp. 288-290. In this article Professor Baird undertakes to 

 demonstrate "that there are two species of wild turkey in North Amer- 

 ica; one confined to the more eastern and southern United States, the 

 other to the southern Rocky Mountains and adjacent part of Texas, New 

 Mexico, and Arizona; that the latter extends along eastern Mexico as far 

 south at least as Orizaba, and that it is from this Mexican species and 

 not from that of eastern North America that this domestic turkey is 

 derived." [Reprinted in Hist, of N. Amer. Birds, III, p. 411, foot- 

 note.] 



