THE TURKEY. 121 



the more densely peopled parts of the United States, 

 Wild Turkeys were formerly very abundant ; but, 

 like the Indian and the buffalo, they have been com- 

 pellsd to yield to the destructive ingenuity of the 

 white settlers, often wantonly exercised, and take 

 refuge in the remotest parts of the interior. Al- 

 though they relinquish their native soil with slow 

 and reluctant steps, yet such is the rapidity with 

 which the settlements are extended and condensed 

 over the surface of this country, that we may antici- 

 pate a day, at no distant period, when the hunter 

 will seek the Wild Turkey in vain." The imperfect 

 records of its introduction to Europe may then be 

 interesting to future generations. 



A person who has seen the Turkey only in the 

 poultry-yards of this country, can have no idea of 

 the splendour of a fine cock in his full plumage, pre- 

 vious to the breeding-season. His plumage gleams 

 with the brightest golden-bronze, tinged, according 

 to the position, with blue, violet, and green, and 

 beautifully broken by the deep black bands which 

 terminate each feather, and which also have a me- 

 tallic lustre. The length of the male figured by Mr 

 Audubon * was four feet and an inch ; the expanse 

 of the wings five feet eight inches. This is beyond 



* The habits of the Turkey in a wild state have been so 

 well and minutely described by the Prince of Musignano 

 and Mr Audubon, that we could not with propriety intro- 

 duce a substitute, and we have therefore adopted the more 

 interesting parts of their descriptions. 



