THE TURKEY HISTORIC 65 



wild forms. Among the doubters, no one was 

 more prominent than Le Conte, who published 

 the following as his opinion at the time, stating : 

 "The conviction that these two birds were really 

 distinct species has long existed in my mind. 

 More than fifty years ago, when I first saw a 

 Wild Turkey, I was led to conclude that one 

 never could have been produced from the other." 

 [Bases it on differences of external characters] 

 (p. 179), adding toward the close of his article: 

 " I defy any one to show a Turkey, even of the first 

 generation, produced from a pair hatched from the 

 eggs of a wild hen," etc. "I repeat, contrary to 

 the assertions of many others, that no one has 

 ever succeeded in domesticating our Wild Tur- 

 key," etc. "Thoroughly believe that the tame 

 and wild bird are different species, and the latter 

 not the ancestor of the tame one." (p. 181.) x 



x Le Conte, John. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, of Phila. IX, 1857, pp. 

 179-181. The distinctive characters and the habits, as given by this 

 luthor of the wild and domesticated turkeys of the United States, are 

 doubtless of some value; but the deductions he draws from the com- 

 parisons made are, as we know, quite erroneous. I have not examined 

 the article by E. Roger in the Bull. Soc. Acclim. cited by Coues in his 

 Ornitho. Biblio. as having appeared in the "2c Ser. VII, 1870, pp. 264- 

 266." Either the year or the pagination, or both, of the citation is 

 wrong, and as many of the copies were out at the time of my search, 

 and the others distributed through several libraries, I failed to obtain 

 it. R. W. S. 



