in ornithology, the Turkey, a genus of birds belonging to the order of gallinaceae. The head is covered with fleshy caruncles; and there is likewise a membranaceous longitudinal caruncle on the throat. There are three species, viz. 1. The gallopavo, or North American turkey of Ray, has a caruncle both on the head and throat; and the breast of the male is bearded. He lives upon grain and insects; when the cock struts, he blows up his breast, spreads and erects his feathers, relaxes the caruncle on the forehead, and the naked parts of the face and neck become intensely red.—Barbot informs us, that very few turkeys are to be met with in Guinea, and those only in the hands of the chiefs of the European forts; the Negroes declining to breed any on account of their tenderness, which sufficiently proves them not to be natives of that climate. He also remarks, that neither the common poultry nor ducks are natural to Guinea, any more than the turkey. Neither is that bird a native of Asia: the first that were seen in Persia were brought from Venice by some Armenian merchants. They are bred in Ceylon, but not found wild. In fact, the turkey, properly so called, was unknown to the ancient naturalists, and even to the old world, before before the discovery of America. It was a bird peculiar to the new continent, and is now the commonest wild-fowl in the northern parts of that country. It was first seen in France, in the reign of Francis I.; and in England, in that of Henry VIII. By the date of the reign of these monarchs, the first turkeys must have been brought from Mexico, the conquest of which was completed A.D. 1521. Ælian mentions a bird found in India, which some writers have suspected to be the turkey; but Mr Pennant concludes, with Gesner, that it was either the peacock, or some bird of that genus. On consulting some gentlemen who had resided long in the Indies, Mr Pennant is of opinion, that though the turkey is bred there, it is only considered as a domestic bird, and not a native of the country.

2. The cristata, or Brazilian pheasant of Ray, has an erect crest of feathers on the head, and violet-coloured temples; it has a caruncle on the throat, but none on the head.

3. The satyra, or horned pheasant of Edwards, has two blue horns behind its eyes, and a red body spotted with black and white. It is a native of Bengal.