Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-11-30
IS A TURK A TURK


scription Of what he thinks must be
the modern turkey bird-and the old
author found il in fact in Asia Minor.
which the Turks Of his religion had al
ready conquered. Such a piece OF
news goes along we'll with the con-
quering OF what we used to call Turk
ey by Mustapha Renal and, if it were
true, would be warranted in taking
our turkey for his own Thanksgiving
emblem.
French naturalists have started up
at once and give III: reasons, which
they say are imperative, why the tur-
key bird Is genuine American, in tile
woods when Columbus came and in
the Puritan Pilgrims pot. No for
eigners need apply-and, as for the
enigma of the name turkey" what's
in a name, anyway? That can be cx-
planned, as can what the old Arab said.
This is the sum Of the French ar
gument The very type OF all turkeys
is found in Honduras and was fully
described in all his glory-speckied,
with eye spots small, but bright, al
most as those Of the peacock's plu.
mage, with deep-sea blue head and
orange-red dewlaps-35 years after
Columbus first glimpsed America.
Now, the Arab OF the Turkish con-
quest uses good deal OF literature
to describe what may easily be only
a guinea hen. And he is the only
traveller or writer who ever used Ian
guage that could be even remotely
applied to our American bird until
the turkey had become a domestic
fowl in Europe, after being brought
over from America as curiosity. The
misfortune was that somehow the Eng
lish baptized him turkey" They got
hold Of him very early, with their
usual love of good eating. Perhaps
he was brought over by Cabot, in
which case he would have been one of
our United States or Canadian tur-
keys, but more likely some buccaneer
brought him back from Panama, where
the "Christians" were breeding him
as a domestic fowl even before Span
ish Oviedo described him so scien,
tically
"He makes wheel of his tall"
says Oviedo, to distinguish him from
other birds of this wonderful world
that resemble him in other ways-but,
he hastens to add, "his tail is not as
beautiful as of our Spanish peacocks."
Here the French make their point.
The Romans were as great and curious
eaters as the English, and they ate
peacocks and brought back from Col
CHS in Asia Minor Tor Turkey in Asia)
pheasants for the sake of eating them,
and their Latin books speak of them
with all particulars. Who can imagine
they would have passed by the tur-
key, which is no end better eating than
the most golden pheasant? They
never speak OF any bird like him
but they know the guinea hen which
the old Arab seems to have meant to
describe
Now here the mistake Of early nat
ural'sts in Europe comes in. They
never tried to reason out why in the
world the English called the bird
turkey but they must have been
influenced by the name-and they de-
cided to call it "Meleagris Gallopavo"
"a three barreled blunder which was
intended to mean combination of
guinea hen, Gallo cock and peacock.
This was the bright idea of the great
Linnaeus who cannot have seen one
or eaten one in his native Sweden.
Perhaps he was influenced W the
unlucky common names for the giori-
Gus bird. The English called him
turkey" but the French called him
"dindon,' which means Indian nlr3
Now, at the beginning, America was
universally spoken of as wndia." ana
we our ourselves still say "West
indies" Put that alongside of the
Indian name for Indian corn-"Crano
Turco" or Turkish grain-and We NAV
guess how Turk and Indian 60; mixed
up for something only. uniquely, solely
and exclusively American in its origin
Therefore the turkey which we eat
at Thanksgiving and, as Tusser said
in 1873 for England before the first
century of America was done-"in
Christmas husbandlie fare"-is a na-
tive of the New World where it was
first described and not of the Old