M E L E A G R I S O C E L L A T A .
taking off my shoes, I would creep up, hoping to see a dark object in the branches projected against the sky; but I had no
luck at all. After, waiting as long as it was, safe, as the rains were approaching, I was obliged to leave 'Peten and the Turkey'
and avail myself of the escort of the corregidor, and start for Belize. -The very morning I started I passed a hut, round
which lay strewn the feathers of a Turkey which the occupant had that morning eaten for breakfast. Bad luck again ! The
next day, as we were skirting the shore of Lake Yasha in a canoe, we all heard the well-known sounds a Turkey makes,
when ‘ strutting.’ My luck still pursued me. It was not possible to land, as the lake had been; constantly rising, and dense
brushwood reached far out into the wafer. The next .day we stayed at the village of Yasha, and I prevailed upon an Indian
who had a gun to go in search of Turkeys, whilst I myself went in another direction, bent on the same errand. That
afternoon the Indian brought me a splendid male bird,‘which I at on ce‘preserved. The flesh of this bird was excellent, and
quite equai to that of the domestic bird—even better to m y ta s te , unaccustomed to such luxuries. When I started for Belize
I left Santos and’ Manuel to return to Çoban by the same road we had come. Before they left they obtained two "specimens of
the Turkey, male and female; so that, altogether,1! succeeded in procuring three birds, though I had not the good luck to see
or shoot one myself.
1 “ I have little doubt that the bird is by np means uncommon throughout the district of Peten and eastwards, amongst the
pine-ridges and forests that border the Belize river : and Rio Hondo. But I believe that it only frequents « such districts where
a mixture of forest-patches and open country prevail. I t is never found in the dense forest, 'n o r yet in the* wide open country
where only now and then a tree is to be seen.
“ The Ocellated Turkey may, then, be said to inhabit only the district which lies between the base of the promontory of
Yucatan, and • the extensive, forest which overspreads the northern and eastern portions of Guatemala*, Its western extension
is not known ; but from what has been said before of the kind of country it is alone known to inhabit, a knowledge of thé
physical features of the tracts bordering the Usumacinta and Rio San Pedro would give grounds for a reasonable presumption
as to the western limits of its- range. Out of this district I do not believe that the Ocellated Turkey is found; the name
Honduras Turkey is evidently derived from its inhabiting British Honduras, and not from the Republic of the same name ;
hence I have no hesitation 'in supposing that Mr. G. G. Taylor was in error when he stated his belief that the bird is-
found in the Republic of Honduras'.
“ From a ll,I could gather in frequent inquiries respecting the habits of this bird, it would seem that small flocks are usually found
in company. At night they roost on trees, usually* ¿selecting one thinly clothed with leaves. The actions of thé male birds quite
resemble those of the other better-knpwn species. . They strut, scraping thé tips o f the primaries along the ground, and make
that singular grunting noise in true ‘ gobbler ’ fashion. Even in its native country the people say that all attempts to-domesticate
it have proved unavailing ; and hence we need not be surprised a t tlve want of success which has resulted from the various trials
to introduce this « magnificent bird into Europe.”’ :
This splendid species was first made known to science in the year 1820 ; ' and the original specimen was contained in the
Bullock collection* .On the dispersion of this*, the example was purchased by the Paris Museum, where it now . is*; and Baron
Cuvier gave to it the name it- now -bears; in a pfiper published in the memoirs of the Museum, voj*. vi. pl. 1. The same
specimen formed the subject of plate 112 of Temminck’s ‘ Planches Coloriées;’ Vieillot afterwards described the same bird under
the name of Meleagris aureus, in ,th e ‘ Encyclopédie Méthodique ' des Oiseaux.’ Since the discovery o f this species, several living
birds have been* brought to Europe; but only some hybrid descendants remain with us a t the present day.
Tlve head and neck of? this elegant bird is deep blue; the lower part o f the sides and front o f the latter are covered with
bright red wart-like excrescences ; » large, thick, upright wattle between the eyes, extending to the bill, and another pendbnt
over the |M1, both deep blue, and terminating with yellow excrescences. Similar wart-like excrescences over the eyes, and also
between the eyes and bill, bright yellow in colour. Feathers of the upper part of back bright metallic-green, a t bas'e, succeeded-
by a line*of black, and tipped with yellow. Back- and rump-feathers blue a t base, followed by a line off black, and broadly tipped'
with, red, this last colour ri’chest on the rump. Scapulars like the back. Secondaries white, irregularly barred with grass-green.
Primaries white, barred -with brownish black. Shoulders and smaller wing-coverts rich grfeen, margined with black ; ‘•greater wing-
coverts deep red. Upper part-o f breast like the back* Flanks and lower parts generally black, tipped with brilliant red. Upper
tail-coverts* and tail-feathers light brown : a t ; base, mottled with black, followed % an irregular bar or bro’ad spotv$f deep blue,
margined above and below with black, succeéded by a line of yellowish ; the remainder of terminal portion deep red. The coverts
are'very 'long, extending halfway down the tail, Bill, legs, and feet red.
The figure is one-third the natural size.