CHAP. III.]

EXTANT IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

277

bird, and gains the greatest perfection at the foot of the mountains. The male bird is splendidly plumed in white and metallic lustred greenish black, with a superb orange-coloured crest on his head. The female is very different in appearance, and also possesses great beauty, but of another class: the colour of her plumage is more a mahogany, but variegated on the breast and neck like a Pheasant, and she has a fine black comb, or rather crest. They are as good to eat as beautiful to look at, but are very difficult to get near to, as they are extremely shy, and avoid human habitations; but when they are caught young, or hatched under a Hen, they soon become so tame as to be quite troublesome. Passing one day under a clumpy, thick tree, I was startled by a great commotion in the branches, when out flew a fine cock Turkey, which I knocked over with one barrel: the report sent out a hen bird, which shared the same fate from the other barrel. Thinking there might be some young ones, I climbed up the tree, and found a nest with two large eggs in it. The nest was clumsily made, but strongly secured by being placed in the fork of several diverging branches. The eggs were much larger than those of the common Turkey. I took them home and put them under a Hen that wanted to sit, and they almost wore her patience out by sitting so much longer on these than is required on Hen's eggs, not to mention her being run away with one night by an Opossum. But her patience was at length rewarded by the appearance of two fine Turkeys. [Query, how did she manage to hatch the eggs after she was run away with by the Opossum?]

“These birds were never touched by our own Dogs, or by those belonging to Indians accustomed to call at the ranchos; but a stranger arrived one day, and his

strange Dog made a dash at these and killed them both, though they were in the midst of poultry he did not touch. However, our Dogs very nearly pulled him to pieces for his pains: but it was vexing to lose them in such a way, as no doubt the pair would have bred.” *

We at first suspected that the birds here described might be, perhaps, one a Guan, and the other a Curassow: but Mr. Byam would know those birds from Turkeys; and Central America belongs rather to the Northern than the Southern Continent, and so would be out of the range of the Cracidae. This circumstance makes the acquisition of live specimens so much the more desirable, and, if they be real Turkeys, or very nearly allied to them, increases the probability of their future domestication in this country as naturally acclimated poultry. They are, moreover, of peculiar interest in reference to the theory of the forms of domesticated animals. The discovery of a wild Crested Turkey, after the instance recorded by Temminck, will much strengthen the belief which we have expressed elsewhere, that there must have existed at some time in the East, an aboriginal race of Polish or top-knotted Fowls. The crests on the heads of Mademoiselle Backer's Turkeys, will no longer be allowed to have been produced by a freak of nature, any more than the Crested Guinea-fowl, the Peintado Cornal of Temminck, and Numida cristata of Lathan, is "a freak;" but will only prove that the lady had more zealous agents, and consequently a better collection than her neighbours.

That such birds have existed, not only in Holland but in this country also, cannot be doubted, although we cannot tell by what means they came here. Their

* Wild Life in the Interior of Central America, p. 154.

CHAP. III.]

GREAT DESIDERATA.

279

present absence from us looks as if there had been a difficulty in propagating them. Albin, referred to by Temminck, gives a good coloured engraving, which he leads us to suppose was drawn from the living bird while in the possession of an English gentleman, whom he names, about a hundred years ago. He is par

ticularly careful not to admit any apocryphal species. into his book. But at present, Byam's birds remain a great puzzle as well as a great desideratum. With much regret at not having the power to give fuller details respecting Crested Turkeys, I am still glad to have made this imperfect mention of them, both because they will be a great acquisition to our aviaries, perhaps to our poultry courts, but most especially because that, on the appearance of any of these rarities, they may not now be looked upon as "a sport," the offspring of domestication, but as a pure and primitive race. None of the theories frequently deduced from the supposed transmutation of corn, &c., can now be propped up by the re-introduction of these birds, which we have hopes, ere long, of seeing in England. The Earl of Derby, who has already rendered such great assistance to zoology by enriching its stores, is promised to have sent from South America, not only those tempting species mentioned by Mr. Byam, but also the Oreogallus Drobianus of Gray, or Chao of Central America, (Chao being the native name of what the Spanish Creoles call the Gallina di Monti), and likewise the lovely Ocellated Turkey, of which his lordship possesses a solitary living female specimen. Whether as possible replenishers of the larder, or merely as most elegant additions to the menagerie, all these birds are very earnestly to be desired.

Undomesticable, and of paradoxical habits.-Their familiar caution.-Attracted by luxuriant water-weeds.-Will have their own way.-Mode of travelling under water. And on the surface.-Post mortem.-Proofs of creative design.Habits of the young.-Rare water-rail.-Aldrovandi's uncertainty.-Versatility of Water Hens.-Modes of escape.-Water Hens in St. James's Park.Water Hens about country houses.-Odd noises.-Activity of the young.Usual nesting-places.-Prolific breeders.

"THE arrowy course of the Swallow-the wanderings of the Albatross-or the soarings of the Eagleare all directed to certain points, and are confined

CHAP. IV.]

PARADOXICAL HABITS.

281

within limits, invisible indeed to the material eye, yet as impassable and as exclusive as a wall of brass. Hither shalt thou come, but no further,' with safety or comfort to thyself. This command, although not pronounced, is a part of the natural instinct of every animal in a state of nature. Domestication can do

much, but its effect is almost entirely limited to those animals which have been marked out by our Creator as destined to the service of Man. Let him be thankful for these exceptions, and not, with a modern philosopher, idly boast of man's conquest of nature, when his highest faculties cannot domesticate-a worm!"*

The Water Hen seems as much disinclined as the worm to submit itself to human discipline, or to go in any other way than its own, however frequently it may cross our path, or delight to intrude as a privileged trespasser, whom there is no gainsaying, within the precincts of our gardens and shrubberies. It is one of the most paradoxical of the feathered race, not in mere form, but in habits and temper combined with form. There are few birds whose entire banishment from this island would be less noticed by the inhabitants of cities, and more immediately remarked by those whose home is fixed in certain rural localities, than the Water Hen. Even in large towns the loss of the occasional sight of the Rook or the Sparrow (in whose expulsion we would cordially assist), of the numerous birds that are seen and heard here and there in cages, or now and then in the game shops-nay, even of Hawks and Owls (though the gamekeepers have pretty severely reduced their numbers), would be observed, and perhaps cause inquiries;

* Swainson.