120 
THE TURKEY. 
adopts that name, from the resemblance he thought 
they bore to the former ; but he adds, “ The neck 
is bare of feathers, but is covered with a skin which 
they change after their pbantasie into diverse co- 
lours. They have a horn, as it were, on their front, 
and hairs on the breast.” Their increase after their 
introduction must have been extremely rapid, or their 
worth must not have been duly appreciated ; for in 
1555 we find them rated at only four shillings each ; 
and in 1573, they are recorded as the usual Christ- 
mas fare of a farmer’s table, and ill “ neighbours to 
peason and to hops.” In France, they seem to have 
been first noticed a few years later, for the first 
Turkey that appeared at table was said to have been 
served up at the wedding banquet of Charles IX. in 
1570 ; but four years previous to this, twelve Tur- 
keys were thought worthy of being presented to 
that king. These are parts of the history of this 
bird which are perhaps only curious to the anti- 
quary or historian, and of little practical use. The 
Turkey has now been domesticated in almost every 
civilized part of the known world ; and it is pro- 
bable that it will be sooner extirpated from the 
greater part of its native wilds than from the poul- 
try-yards of the opulent and lux urious. Bonaparte 
observes, that it is now extremely rare, if, indeed, it 
exists at all, in the northern and eastern parts of the 
United States. In New' England, it even appears 
to have been already destroyed one hundred and fif- 
ty years back. Again, he adds, “ In Canada, and 
