66 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



During the year 1856, the papers Gould pub- 

 lished on the wild turkeys attracted considerable 

 attention, and they have been widely quoted 

 since. In one of his first papers on the subject 

 he quotes from Martin the same paragraph which 

 Baird quoted in his article in the Report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture (1866 anted), while 

 Baird in his article misquotes Gould by saying 

 that the turkey was introduced into England in 

 1541; whereas Gould states the introduction 

 took place in 1524. 1 



^ould, J. 2. On a new turkey, Meleagris Mexicana. P. Z. S. 

 XXIV, 1856, pp. 61-63. (In his Ornithol. Bibliogr.) Coues remarks 

 upon -this as follows: "Subsequently determined to be the stock whence 

 the domestic bird descended, and hence a synonym of M . gallopavo, 

 Linn." 



This paper was extensively republished at the time, generally under 

 the title of "A new species of turkey from Mexico" [all citing the P. Z. 

 S. article]. One journal quoted it as follows: "Mr. Gould exhibited a 

 specimen of turkey which he had obtained in Mexico, and which dif- 

 fered materially from the wild turkey of the United States. At the 

 same time this turkey so closely resembled the domesticated turkey of 

 Europe that he believed naturalists were wrong in attributing its origin 

 to the United States species. The present specimen was therefore a new 

 species, and he proposed to call it Meleagris Mexicana, which, if his 

 theory was correct, must henceforth be the designation of the common 

 turkey." Amer. Jour. Sci. XXII, 1856, p. 139. Under the same title 

 this latter was reprinted in Edinb. New Philos. Journ. n. s., iv, 1856, 

 pp. 371, 372. See also Bryant, H. "Remarks on the supposed new species 

 of turkey, Meleagris Mexicana, recently described by Mr. Gould." Proc. 

 Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, vi, 1857, pp. 158,159. "In the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society of London for 1856, page 61," says Professor Baird, 

 "Mr. Gould characterizes as new a wild turkey from the mines of Real 

 del Norte, in Mexico, under the name of Meleagris Mexicana, and is the 

 first to suggest that it is derived from the domesticated bird, and not 

 from the common wild turkey of eastern North America, on which he 



