m 
ike iflamds, 
Mexico^ 
Mr. pennant's Account 
Indies, for the ufe of his monarch CHARLES V. 
This learned man had vifi ted the Weft Indies and 
its iftands in perfom, and payed particular regard 
to the natural hiftory. It appears from him, that 
the Turkey was in his days an inhabitant of 
the greater iflands, and of the main-land. He 
'fpeaks of them as Peacocks ; for being a new 
■bird to him, he adopts that name from the re« 
femblance he thought they bore to the former. 
44 But, 5 * fays he, 44 the neck is bare of feathers, 
44 but covered with a fkin which they change 
* 4 after their phantaiie into diverfe colours. They 
44 have * a horn as it were on. their front, and 
44 haires on the breafttd’ He defcribes other 
birds which he alfo calls Peacocks. They are of 
the gallinaceous genus, and known by the name 
of Curafiao birds, the male of which is black, 
the female ferruginous. 
The next who fpeaks of them as natives of 
the main-land of the warmer parts of- America, 
is Francisco fernandez, fent there by philip 
II. to whom he was phyfician. This naturalift 
obferved them in Mexico. We find by him, 
that the Indian name of the male was Huexolotl, 
of the female Cihuatotolin. He gives them the 
title of Gallus Indicus and Gallo Pavo. The 
Indians, as well as Spaniards, domefticated thefe 
ufeful birds. He fpeaks of the lize by comparifon, 
faying, that the wild were twice the magnitude of 
* In the Spanifti Pe^on corto. 
^ In PVRCHAS, III. 995. 
i the 
