404 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



Wild turkeys are taller and more slender than the 

 tame kinds; they fly with great ease and roost on trees. 

 When caught young they are readily tamed, but keep 

 the habit of flying. 



Turkeys are almost altogether raised for their flesh. 

 The eggs are valuable for hatching, and are not sold for eating 

 to any extent. Turkey hens are not very good sitters, and 

 the eggs are now mostly hatched in incubators. Young 

 turkeys are quite delicate, and half of them frequently die 

 of various troubles, unless very carefully handled. Clean 

 food and pure water must be supplied them even more care- 

 fully than to chickens. 



The Bronze turkey is the best known improved breed, 

 often reaching a weight of over thirty pounds. Its plumage 

 is much like that of the wild bird. Other kinds are chiefly 

 distinguished by their colors. 



Ducks and geese. Unlike chickens and turkeys, vari- 

 ous kinds of ducks and geese are found all over the 

 temperate zone. Wild ducks and geese are still hunted 

 in almost all countries. Their wide distribution and 

 also their preservation is largely due to itheir migratory 

 habits. The geese, especially, go northward to breed 

 in summer, out of reach of hunters. The honking 

 of the traveling flocks of wild geese is heard in spring 

 and autumn all the way from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific coasts. Ducks usually do not travel as far as 

 geese. 



Our tame breeds of both geese and ducks are probably 

 much mixed from the native breeds of different coun- 



