DOMESTICATED BIRDS 



165 



needs or comfort of man to the degree which is likely to give 

 them a permanent place among his associates. 



The last considerable addition to our barnyards has come 

 to us in the form of the turkey. This species has the pecul- 

 iar distinction of being the only animal form of definite use to 

 man over a wide field which has been contributed from the 

 life of the New World. Although the creature was much 





The Domesticated Turkey 



hunted by our North American Indians, and is of a type 

 which lends itself to domestication, it does not appear to have 

 become a companion of man until it was taken from the West 

 India Islands to Europe shortly after the discovery of this 

 country. Thence the domesticated form appears to have 

 been returned to this country, where it has been a favorite 

 in a measure unknown in the Old World. Ornithologists 

 deem the Cuban turkey, whence our tame form came, to 

 be specifically distinct from those which are found on the 



