228 
The Animal-Lore of Shakspeare 9 s Time. 
In the Book of Carving, printed by Wynkyn de 
Worde, in 1513, instructions are given for cutting up a 
capon, or “ henne of grece,” by which is simply meant 
a fat hen; and in John Russell’s Book of Nurture , the 
expression “ hen of hawt grese ” occurs, which, being inter¬ 
preted, means plump, well fed, so that Mr. Barrington’s 
ingenious theory must be given up. 
Mr. Harting ( Ornithology , p. 179), referring to Shak- 
speare’s anachronism in introducing the domestic turkey 
in the reign of Henry XV., gives full particulars of the 
various names by which the bird has been known. 
According to Mr. Henry Green— 
“ a general knowledge of the bird was at any rate spread abroad in 
Europe soon after the middle of the sixteenth century, for we find it 
figured in the emblem-books ; one of which, Freitag’s Mythologia 
Ethica, in 1579 (p. 237), furnishes a most lively and exact representa¬ 
tion to illustrate the violated rights of hospitality.” (Shakspeare and 
the Emblem Writers , 1870, p. 356.) 
In the accompanying picture a stately turkey-cock is 
depicted advancing with spreading plumes. He is met 
by a fine specimen of the domestic cock, who, with lifted 
spur and threatening aspect, prepares to attack the in¬ 
truder. Beneath the drawing is the text, “ And if a 
stranger sojourn with thee in your land ye shall not vex 
him ” (Lev. xix. 33). 
Early travellers often confuse the Guinea-fowl with 
Guinea- the turkey. The former is a native of Africa, 
fowl., anc i the latter of America, which difference 
of habitation should save them from being mistaken for 
each other. Francis Pretty, in his account of a voyage 
undertaken by Thomas Candish between the years 1585 
and 1588, says 
“We found in this place [Saint Helena] great store of guinie-cocks, 
which we call turkies, of colour black and white, with red heads: they 
are much about the same bignesse which ours be of in England: their 
egges be white, and as bigge as a turkies egge.” (Purchas, vol. i. 
P* 70.) 
