835. BIRDS, The Turkey in Heraldry.—
Mr. William Strickland, the eldest son of St. George Strickland, of York, in England,
told me this anecdote: Some ancestor of his
commanded a vessel in the navigations of Cabot.
Having occasion to consult the Herald's
office concerning his family, he found a petition
from that ancestor to the Crown, stating that
Cabot's circumstances being slender, he had been
rewarded by the bounties, he needed from the
Crown; that as to himself, he asked nothing in
that way, but that as a consideration for his
services in the same way, he might be permitted
to assume for the crest of his family arms, the
turkey, an American bird; and Mr. Strickland
observed that their crest is actually a
turkey.—
To Dr. Hugh Williamson. Washington ed. iv, 346.
Ford ed., vii, 480.
(W.
Jan. 1801)
