102 OUR DOMESTIC FOWT.S. 



nandez, is inferior to the domestic breed, its 

 flesh being dry and hard ; this, perhaps, is 

 owing to the quaUty of the food. 



The wild turkey is far superior in stature and 

 beauty to the tame bird ; the latter, even in 

 America, its native country, is deteriorated by 

 domestication ; hence mixed breeds between the 

 wild and tame are much valued, and procured 

 when possible. " Eggs of the wild turkey have 

 been frequently taken from their nests and 

 hatched under the tame hen ; the young pre- 

 serve a portion of their uncivilized nature, and 

 exhibit some knowledge of the difference be- 

 tween themselves and their foster mother, 

 roosting apart from the tame ones, and in 

 other respects showing the force of hereditary 

 disposition. The domesticated young reared 

 from the eggs of the wild turkey are often 

 employed as decoy birds to those in a state of 

 nature. Mr. "William Bloom, of Clurfield, 

 Pennsylvania, caught five or six wild turkeys 

 when quite chickens, and succeeded in rearing 

 thfera. Although sufficiently tame to feed 

 with his tame turkeys, and generally associate 

 with them, yet they always retained some of 

 their original propensities^ roosting by them-« 



