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M ËLEAG RIS OCELLATA.
o c e l la t i : ! ) . tu rk e y .
MELEÀGRIS OCELLATA, Temm. Pian. CòTor. 112.—Cuv. Mém. du Müs. £ vi. pi. ' l.,(Ì 8 2 0 |p |L e s s , Trait. Ornith. (1831) p. 490. sp. 2.—
•'Gray, List B .B r it. Mus. (18 4 4 ) p. 29.— Id. List:Gali. (1867) p. 4 2—Sclat. Pitoc. Zool*È5oc. (1861) p. 402 & (1863) p. 125. sp. 3.—
Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc: (1859) p. 62.—Taylor, Ibis (i8 6 0 ) , p. 311.—Sclat. & Sate. Ibis (1859), p,p\ 5 & 225.—Gray, Gen. of Birds,
ì^ ^ p )l:'iii. p. 500’.* (1845)'.
MELEAGRIS AUREUS, Vieill.' Gali'Ois. pi. 20L—Ency. Méthod. voi: i. p. 36 V
Hab. Yucatan; Guatemala, Department of Petèn ; British Honduras (Salvi^ì) .
It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful object than the Ocellated Turkey, its plumage glittering .with those metallic
colours which wé arç accustomed to see upon thé Humming-birds, and whichjitìó; one would imagine likely to exist upon so
large a bird as the species now under consideration. How magnificent .must be its appearance when, with its tail freely
expanded, and all its brilliant colours flashing in the sun, it displays itself before the hens, as shown in the reduced figure in
the Plate. JBut few have ’ been able to observe this species in its native* haunts and witness these exhibitions, as it is a very '
local bird, and dwells, for the most part, in places wheré the undergrowth is dense and difficult to penetrate. Moore, in the
‘ Zoological Proceedings’ for 1859, says of this Turkey that “ formerly these birds descended by the Old Rteer towards Belize,;
a s ’the country has become more occupied, they have retired further to th é interior, and are now sparely met with about halfway
from Belize to Peten ; beyorîd Pëten they are more plentiful. Three ; wild birds we re. observed in thè summer of 1856 by
Mr. Burns, mahogany-cUtter, residing at ,thè Boom, on the Old River, some thirty!miles from the,-towii of Belize.. They came
to the river, near liis house, to drink, but took to flight before they could be secured ; , they had not previously ■ been seen in the
neighbourhood for many years. They are extremely, shy, and keep to .the fhiçk: woods, except when they go:'to the outskirts to
feed. When thus Occupied; their heads may ju st be discerned above the grass ; but should they; see any onè a mile off, they become
alarmed and retreat to the woods. The Spaniards shoot them by, night, during the, pairing-time in March, when .they betray
themselves liÿ their cries while a t roost. Their flesh is most delicious, eating. !The wild co.cks: tread the hen Turkeys of the
residents at Peten, th e produce being a very fine cross. The wild race is. called the P a v o d e lM o n te by the Spanish. residents ;
and the domestic race the Paco R e a l” The following - interesting ac count. of this fine, specie's was kindly furnished by my
friend Mr. Osbert Salvin, so well and favourably' known for his ornithological investigations ! in . Central America. It is with
much, pleasure, that I am .able to publish a history o f tlie Ocellated Turkey from sô reliable a source :-^ / ,; •?
“ During my visits to the Republic of Guatemala, in the years 1857-58 anjl in 1859-60, I made constant inquiries respecting
the Ocellated Turkey both in Vera Paz and elsewhere; but nothing, was gathered concerning it beyond the report of its
existence in the remote »'department o f Peten. During my third ‘visit to Central America, with Mr. F. Godman, in »1861-63,
after having explored nearly the whole of the rest of Guatemala, we determined to go to Peten, expecting that a district which
produced so remarkable a species as this Turkey: could hardly fail to reveal other striking: novelties. Unfortunately an attack
of fever prevented Mr. Godman from Undertaking so arduous “a .journey ;-j so, in March, 1862, I started: a lo n e ’from Coban, in
Vera Paz, taking with me two half-caste servants, Manuel Contreras and Santos Teron, and Indians, to carry provisions and other
necessaries as far as Capabon, the .last' village/Op the track to Peten. Here I stayed, two days, and having procured eleven
fresh Indians, to carry my cargoes, plunged into the forest which clothes almost the whole of this porjjon of the Isthmus, from
‘the base of tbe main cordillera to the Atlantic Ocean. Out, of this forest I emerged on reaching the village of San Luis.
The whole district traversed is quite uninhabited, much, o f the country being apparently partially submerged during tbe rainy
season. » Though abounding in Curassow (Craw globicerd) and. Guans (Penelope purpurascens), I do not believe. ‘ that the true ‘
Turkey is ever found in this forest. From S a n 'L u is I passed on to Poctuny a village in one o f the open pine-tracts which form
so conspicuous a feature throughout British Honduras and Yucatan. Beyond {his point, the track lay through alternating
forests and pine-ridges, the former, usually skirting,-the streams on either side for ¿ ’width of a mile or two. I thus journeyed
on, till one day, as we were passing between a belt o f forest, Santos, who was in front, came running back, saying there were
Turkeys in the track before us., I hurried up, but failed to see any traces of these long-sought-for birds. After reaching
Peten I made an excursion with the corregidor o f the department to the village of Sakluk, situated about twenty miles to
.the westward of the town o f Peten. Here I stayed several days, and was out constantly in search o f Turkeys, but without
avail* *1 was told that birds might sometimes be seen in the patches of trees that lay scattered over the open .country; but I
searched them in vain. At night an Indian would take me to a 'tree where he had observed them frequently roosting ; and,