78 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



shall presently see, that the turkey degenerates 

 in India, and this fact indicates that this was not 

 aboriginally an inhabitant of the lowlands of the 

 tropics. 



"F. Michaux," he further points out, "sus- 

 pected in 1802 that the common domestic turkey 

 was not descended from the United States species 

 alone, but was likewise from a southern form, and 

 he went sof aras to believe thatEnglish and French 

 turkeys differed from having different proportions 

 of the blood of the two parent-forms. 1 



"English turkeys are smaller than either wild 

 form. They have not varied in any great de- 

 gree; but there are some breeds which can be 

 distinguished — as Norfolks, Suffolks, Whites, 

 and Copper-Coloured (or Cambridge), all of 

 which, if precluded from crossing with other 

 breeds, propagate their kind truly. Of these 

 kinds, the most distinct is the small, hardy, dull- 

 black Norfolk turkey, of which the chickens are 

 black, with occasionally white patches about the 



x Michaux, F. "Travels in N. Amer." 1802 Eng. Trans., p. 217. 

 See also the following: Blyth, E., "Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist.," 1847, 

 vol. xx., p 391. This author points out that these turkeys in India are 

 flightless, black in color, small, and the appendage over the bill of 

 great size. 



