TURKEY BUZZARD 



5917 



TURNER 



the breast, the legs are spurred, and wattles are 

 found on the head and neck, which are bare of 

 feathers. The female is smaller and less 

 smartly colored, and she lacks the tuft of 



!es. 

 In their native haunts in the forests .these 



> congregate in small flocks, coming into 

 the open only to secure food. They are fond 

 of nuts, seeds, insects, berries and other small 

 At night they roost in the trees. The 

 crude nests, lined with dry leaves, are placed on 

 the ground. Turkey eggs are about twice as 

 large as those of the common fowl, and are pale 

 cream-buff, speckled with brown. There are 

 from ten to fourteen in a brood. The domestic 

 resembles the wild species, but the 

 plumage is less brilliant. It is a valuable item 



poultry business because its flesh is de- 

 licious and nutritious. The number of turkeys 

 raised by poultrymen, however, is much less 



ie number of chickens, partly because the 

 eggs of the latter are more valuable, and partly 

 because there is a greater demand for the 

 smaller and less expensive fowl. In general, 



- require about the same care as chick- 

 ens. See POULTRY. 



ilt Mcllhenny's The Wild Turkey and Its 

 Hunting. 



TURKEY BUZZARD, buz' ard, or TURKEY 

 VUL'TURE, the most common of American 

 vultures (see VULTURE), having glossy black 

 plumage edged with grayish-brown, and a bright 

 red head and neck. It is about thirty inches 



Tin: 



BUZZARD 



itl, a wing breadth of six feet, and can 

 be distinguished at a distance by the uj 

 ends of its wings. In common with otli 



it has the disgusting habit of gorging it- 

 self on the decomposing flesh of dead animals, 

 .iti.l u ;,nn up the mass be- 



fore it attempts to fly. It is considered >: 

 as a .- It nest* in hollow Mumps or 



logs, or on the ground under palmettos or 



bushes. The two handsome eggs are of a 

 creamy color, mottled with reddish-brown or 

 chocolate. These vultures range from Canada 

 to Mexico. 



TURKS, in a broad sense the name of the 

 Mohammedan subjects of the sultan of Turkey. 

 The name is applied more specifically to the 

 conquerors of Constantinople and the inhabit- 

 ants of the region in Asia known as Turkey. 

 There are various other peoples, however . who 

 belong to the same group linguistically ; that is, 

 who speak the Turkish language. These include 

 the Russian Tatars (or Tartars), the Turkoman 

 tribes living between the Caspian Sea and the 

 Oxus River (in Central Asia), the Kirghis and 

 other nomadic tribes of Asia. 



Related Subject*. The reader Is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Kirghiz Tartars 



Seljuks Turkey 



TURMERIC, tur'mcrik, the name of a plant 

 native to Southern Asia, the fleshy roots of 

 which are the source of a substance, also called 

 turmeric, which is used mainly for dyeing. The 

 word is derived apparently from the 

 terra merita, meaning deserved or excellent 

 earth ; some authorities, however, regard it as a 

 corruption of the Arabic kurkum, meaning saf- 

 fron. The roots are hard and tough ; externally 

 they are brownish or yellowish-green, but when 

 broken show a resinous interior whirl \ 

 from orange-brown to deep reddish-brown. The 

 roots are prepared for the market by being 

 cleaned and then dried in an oven. The > 

 ish powder which they yield when ground has 

 a strong aromatic odor. 



Turmeric has been used for centuries as a 

 dyestuff and as a condiment, and it is an im- 

 portant ingredient of curry powder. It does 

 not yield a fast color, however, as a dyestuff. 

 It has gone out of use as a medicine, but in 

 I M.II -i it forms, when mixed with milk, a cooling 

 lotion for th.- -km and eyes. Turmeric is useful 

 in chnni-Jiv m making test papers for alkalies, 

 for on the addition of alkali white paper soaked 

 in a tincture of turmeric turns to reddish-brown, 

 and on drying, to violet. 



TUR'NER, JOMI-H MALUWD (1775-1851), an 

 English painter, considered by many competent 

 critics to be the greatest artist of the Eng- 

 lish school of landscape painting. Public ap- 



> work has been decide-: 

 by Ruskin's praise of it m ' 

 rt, though Turner won high honor* m l.i- 

 ; it her, a London barber, recognised 

 the boy's talent, and encouraged it in every 



