[ w ] 



upon the Northern parts of that vaft continent On the contrary v 

 Athenaeus mentions, that they were brought from Ethiopia, and 

 carried about in cages at a proceffion of Ptolemy Phlladelphus °. 

 Photius alfo informs us, that fome of them were to be found on an 

 ifland of the river Nile, and probably the upper part of that river", 



I mould for thefe reafons rather fuppofe, that when the Romans 

 fpeak of Volucres Libycas or Numidicae, they only refer to a 

 variety of the common fowl, the plumage of which might fome- 

 what refemble that of the Guiney hen, as we now diftinguifh 

 them by the name of Bantam, &c. 



I am by no means fo clear that Guiney hens were not confi- 

 dered as poultry by the Greeks, though their having been in- 

 troduced to Europe from the Coaft of Guiney makes me fufpect 

 that they were not, becaufe this delicacy could not have been 

 wanting for the tables of the emperors when they refided at 

 Conftantinople, and confequently the breed could not be entirely 



n Dr. Shaw takes no notice of the peintade amongft the birds in the 

 neighbourhood of Algiers, but on the contrary gives an engraving and 

 defcription of the Rhaad or Saf-faf which anfwers almoft in every cir- 

 cumftance with Columella's account of the Meleagris. The Rhaad is of 

 the lize of a capon, and hath a tuft of blue feathers on its head ; having 

 no hind claw, it may -properly be considered as a buftard; and there is 

 a fpecimen of the leffer fpecies of this bird in Sir Afhton Lever's Mufeum, 

 which Dr. Shaw obferves hath no tuft of blue feathers behind the head ; 

 it is alfo elegantly mottled with brown and white. 



I had an opportunity of mewing Dr. Shaw's engraving and defcription 

 of the Rhaad, to a lady who had lived many years at Tunis, and who 

 told me that Ihe believed it to be what was there more commonly called 

 the Hen of Carthage, , becaufe it was generally brought from thence, and 

 efteemed a good bird for the table. From thefe circumftances it is not 

 improbable that the Rhaad may be the Meleagris of the Romans, their 

 intercourfe-being chiefly with the neighbourhood of Carthage, after 

 their conqueft of that part of Africa. 



The fame lady informed me that they had no Guiney hens at Tunis 

 4>ut v/hat came from Italy, 



° Athenaeus. L. IX. p P. 1366. Rhotomagi, 1653. 



U 2 lo£" 



