MELEAGRIS in natural history, the turkey, a genus of birds of the order Gal ling. Generic character : bill convex, short and strong ; head and neck cover ed with spongy caruncles ; chin with a longitudinal membranaceous caruncle ; tail broad and expansile. Gmelin notices two species, and Latham five. The melee gris gallipavo, or wild turkey, is a native of America, the presumed origin of every species under the genus. In the north ern parts of that continent these birds are found in flocks even of several hun dreds, which, during the day-time, resort to the woods, feeding principally upon acorns, returning by night to some swampy grounds, where they roost upon the highest trees. In Carolina they oc Tasionally grow to the weight of thirty, and even, it is said, forty pounds, and at Surinam, they attain also a very consi derable size. They are often taken by means of dogs, which, obliging them to run for a very considerable time, at length nearly exhaust their strength, and force them to take refuge in the tops of the tallest trees. Here, if within reach of the sportsman, they incur inevitable de struction, as the preceding exertions have occasioned so great a lassitude as to pre clude all further effort ; and they drop one after another, submitting without the slightest resistance to their fate. Tur keys breed only once in a year, but will produce a great number at a time, some times even so many as seventeen. The
female sits with extreme closeness, and is very assiduous in maternal duties. The young, however, are very susceptible of injury, from almost innumerable causes, from cold and wet, and even sunshine it self, which, when powerful, has often been known to prove fatal to them. They are reared, therefore, in England with great care and difficulty only, but in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk are nevertheless considered as a profit able appendage to almost every farming establishment. From these counties they are driven to the metropolis at certain seasons, and urged on the road by long sticks with bits of red cloth waving at the end of them, the sight of which ex cites in these birds uncommon terror. In their expressions of the strongest feel ings, both of attachment and antipathy, they raise their train, and spread it near. ly into a complete circle, uttering certain hollow and internal sounds, which pro duce a general agitation throughout the body. Collecting and displaying, in this manner, their whole dignity, they move with a slow and ostentatious step, de sirous, as it were, to convince alike the objects of their love and hatred of their possessing superior power and conse quence. See Avss, Plate VIII. fig. 8.