POLYPLECTRON, 'rem. DiPLECTRON, ViCill. PALO, Lin. &c.
Bill middle-sized, slender, straight, compressed ; the upper mandible bent down towards the tip; nostrils lateral, in the middle of the bill, half covered by a naked membrane, but open in front; orbits and cheeks naked; legs slender, with four toes ; the tarsi long, and, in the male, furnished with two or more spurs; tail broad, round ed, elongated, and composed of sixteen feathers.
P. chinquis, Tem. Pavo bicalcaratus, and Pavo Thi betanus, Lin. Pave Sinensis, Brisson. .4rgus polyfilec tron, Peacock Pheasant, Iris Peacock, Thibet Peacock, &c. Cinereous, striated with dusky, and spotted with white above ; wing-coverts sprinkled with brilliant orbic ular cerulean spots, or eyes; under parts of the body grey, undulated with dusky lines ; secondary quills with shining blue spots, and tail coverts with two shining green spots. From the generic and specific characters above recited some idea may be formed of the aspect of these singular birds, which are rather larger than a pheasant, and highly elegant and beautiful. They inhabit China, and the mountains which separate Hindoston from Thibet. Ac cording to Sonnet-at, they likewise occur in Malacca. The most remarkable circumstance in their natural history, is that of the tarsi being armed with several spurs, which vary in number, from two to six ; and frequently the same bird has a different number on each leg. Another curious fact is, that the tail is composed of two distinct ranges of long feathers, the undermost being the true tail. These feathers are capable of being erected, and displayed like a fan, when the bird is agitated, but, at other times, they remain in a horizontal position. The plumage of the female is less brilliant that that of the male, and the tail shorter. The attire of the young is of an earthy grey, with large spots, and small lines of a brown hue. After the first moult the plumage is less irregular, and the position of the spots on the wings and tail becomes visible; at the second they are more distinctly defined, and possess the fine golden blue tint, with green re flexions ; but it is not till after the third moulting, which takes place at two years of age, that all the colours are produced in perfection. In the natural state this species
is not very wild, and it readily becomes accustomed to confinement, and propagates with as much facility as most of the gallinaceous fowls.
MELEAGars, Lin. &c. TURKEY.
Bill short and thick ; head and upper part of the neck invested with a naked, tuberculated skin ; throat, with a longitudinal, pendulous, and carunculated wattle; feet four toed, tarsi of the male with an obtuse and weak spur ; wings short. Only one species is known, namely, ?IL Lin. &c. Common Turkey. Body black above and beneath, and glossed with violet and gold. The female has smaller wattles, and is incapable of erect ing the feathers of the tail. In its wild or original state, this bird is about three feet and a half in length, and will weigh from twenty even to sixty pounds. In consequence of domestication this species seems to degenerate, for it diminishes in size, and becomes liable to various mala dies; but it also assumes a greater diversity of colouring.
Our English appellation of Turkey has been very im properly bestowed on the present species ; but about the period when it was first introduced into the island, namely, in the reign of Henry VIII. it was customary to desig nate by the same name many foreign articles of luxury or rarity. We are indeed aware, that some of :the elder naturalists, including Ray, and followed by the ingenious Daines Barrington, have assigned Asia and Africa as th'e original residence of the species, which, they allege, was known to the ancients, but they have obviously confound ed it with the Guinea Fowl ; and it is now distinctly as certained that the bird in question is a native of North America, where it occurs from the country of the Ilinois to the Isthmus of Panama. It was formerly very common in Canada, notwithstanding the cold which prevails in that province during nine months of the year, and it abounded in the central tracts of the United States; but, with the progress of culture and population, it has gra dually receded into the more remote territories.