Ill 



THE TURKEY 



WHAT is a Turkey ? This is a question on the consider- 

 ation of which a little time may be spent, not unpro- 

 fitably. There is no other bird which should indeed be 

 so replete with interest for the English-speaking races of 

 both sides of the Atlantic. Handsome in appearance, 

 considerable in size, familiar as a piece, de resistance at 

 family feasts of the highest political or deepest religious 

 significance both in America and England, the turkey's 

 scientific relations are also noteworthy, as we shall see 

 presently. 



But however interested Englishmen may be scientifi- 

 cally or gastronomically in the turkey, its claims on the 

 appreciation and interests of Americans are, of course, 

 greater. For almost every one now knows that the 

 turkey is naturally an inhabitant of North America ex- 

 clusively, and that no man has found one in a wild state 

 anywhere else in the wide world. But there is more than 

 this to be said as to its geographical exclusiveness. As 

 we have seen, the Virginian opossum is an inhabitant of 

 North America exclusively to day, though in earlier 

 times it dwelt in Europe. But all the evidence there is 

 goes to show that in Miocene times, as now, the turkey 

 was an inhabitant of America only. 



Not without reason did the great Franklin recommend 

 the adoption of this peaceful, useful, ornamental and 



