INTRODUCTION 



4 LTHOUGH many eminent naturalists and 

 J A observers have written of the turkey 

 ■^ -^ from the date of its introduction to 

 European civilization to the present time, there 

 has been no very satisfactory history of the 

 intimate life of this bird, nor has there been a 

 satisfactory analysis of either the material from 

 which our fossil turkeys are known, or the many 

 writings concerning the early history of the bird 

 and its introduction to civilization. I have 

 attempted in this work to cover the entire 

 history of this very interesting and vanishing 

 game bird, and believe it will fill a long-felt 

 want of hunters and naturalists for a more de- 

 tailed description of its life history. 



This work was begun by Chas. L. Jordan and 

 would have been completed by him, except for 

 his untimely death in 1909. 



Mr. Jordan for more than sixty years was a 



