"It is somewhat singular that so noble a bird, and in America at least by no means a rare one, should have remained unfigured until within five years of the present time; all the plates in European works being manifestly derived from domestic specimens." Bennett was aware that Audubon's Plates were published about this time, for he mentions them. He also was well informed in matters regarding the crossing of the wild male turkey with the female domestic one, and with the improvement in the breed thus obtained.
* Note: Newton disputes this and says: "In 1555 both sexes were characteristically figured by Belon (Oiseaux, p. 249), as was the cock by Gesner in the same year, and these are the earliest representations of the bird known to exist." (Dict. of Birds, pp. 995, 996.)
[25] Newton states that this assertion "is wholly untrustworthy," as carp, pickerel (and other commodities) both lived in this country (England) long before 1524, "if indeed they were not indigenous to it." (Dict. of Birds, p. 995).
[26] No two authors seem to agree upon the exact date when the turkey was really introduced into England. Here Bennett states positively 1530; Professor Baird has it 1541; Alfred Newton 1524, and so on.
[27] Leland's Collectanea, (1541).
[28] Dugdale. "Origines Juridiciales."
[29] Shufeldt, R. W. "The Ancestry of the American Turkey," Shooting and Fishing, Vol. 24, No. 13, New York, July 14, 1898, p. 246. "Wild and Domesticated Turkeys," Ibid. No. 17, August 11, 1898, p. 331. "A Reply to the Turkey Hunters," Ibid. No. 23, September 22, 1898, pp, 451, 452. "The Wild Turkey of Arizona," Ibid. Vol. 32, No. 5, New York, May 22, 1902, pp. 108, 109.
[30] Nelson, E. W. "Description of a New Subspecies of Meleagris gallopavo and proposed changes in the nomenclature of certain North American birds." Auk, XVII, April 1900, pp. 120-123.
[31] Among the luxuries belonging to the high condition of civilization exhibited by the Mexican nation at the time of the Spanish conquest was the possession of Montezuma by one of the most extensive zoölogical gardens on record, numbering nearly all the animals of that country, with others brought at much expense from great distances, and it is stated that turkeys were supplied as food in large numbers daily to the beasts of prey in the menagerie of the Mexican Emperor. (Baird, ibid. pp. 288, 289.)
[32] Ogilvie-Grant, W. R. "A Hand-book to the Game-Birds." (Lloyd's Nat. Hist., London, 1897, pp. 103-111.) Genus Meleagris. Describes briefly some of the North American Turkeys, and also M. ocellata (full page colored figure). Nest and eggs of all described in brief.