THE TURKEY HISTORIC 77 



domesticated forms of turkeys as they occur in 

 this country and abroad, as well as descriptions 

 of their eggs. I have gone over a large part of 

 this literature, but shall be able to use only a 

 small, though nevertheless essential, part of it 

 here. This I shall complete with an account of 

 turkey eggs, which will be presented quite apart 

 from anything to do with their nests, nesting 

 habits, and much else which will be fully treated 

 in other chapters of this book. In some works 

 we meet with the literature of all these subjects 

 together, others have only a part, while still 

 others are confined to one thing, as the eggs. 1 

 Darwin in his works paid considerable attention 

 to the wild and tame turkeys. He states that 

 "Professor Baird believes (as quoted in Teget- 

 meier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 269) that our 

 turkeys are descended from a West Indian species, 

 now extinct. But besides the improbability of a 

 bird having long ago become extinct in these 

 large and luxuriant islands, it appears, as we 



^gilvie-Grant, W. R. "A Hand-book to the Game-Birds." 

 (Lloyd's Nat. Hist., London, 1897, pp. 103-111.) Genus Meleagris. De- 

 scribes briefly some of the North American Turkeys, and also M. ocellaia 

 (full page colored figure) . Nest and eggs of all described in brief. 



