DOMESTICATED BIRDS 



16 7 



the United States and which has in a way taken the place of 

 the harvest-home festivities of the Old World and bygone 

 ages. It is probable that the relation of this bird to our 

 national festivities has done much to keep it in use in this 

 country. It is a well-recognized fact that it is costly to keep 

 and that the eggs are not desirable for culinary use. The 

 species requires a wide range. It does not do well in the con- 

 fined conditions in which cocks and hens can readily be main- 

 tained. It therefore is not likely to be kept in any region 

 where the agriculture is of a high grade. It is best suited to 

 farms where there are considerable areas of half-wild pastures. 

 Although the turkey is a truly gregarious form, its men- 

 tal endowments are of a lower grade than those of most social 

 birds. Their calls are few in number and have little of that 

 conversational quality which we note in those of our ordinary 

 barnyard fowls. Although the males contest the field with 

 each other by personal combats, they are not very valiant, the 

 creatures trusting for favor with the females rather to the 

 parade of their plumage and the pomp of their carriage than 

 to the wager of battle. In the matter of show they are, how- 

 ever, very effective, being surpassed only by the peacock in 

 the splendor of their attire. In their domesticated state they 

 lose much of the beauty which they have in the wilderness, as 

 they do their pristine dimensions. Those who have hunted 

 our wild species are likely to remember scenes where in some 

 forest glade they have beheld a gobbler displaying his graces 

 to an admiring harem. As he struts about with his tail feath- 



o 



ers erect and his neck arched back, now and then pausing to 

 utter an exultant gobble, the spectacle is one of the most 

 amusing displays of animal pride which the naturalist has a 

 chance to behold. 



