Birds of Farm and Zoo [ 69 



TURKEYS THE PILGRIMS' PRIDE 



The turkey gobble is possibly the most famous of all bird 

 sounds. The torn "gobbles" aggressively as he struts and displays 

 his beauty to a flock of hens. He lifts his beautiful tail feathers 

 in a semicircular fan, sticks out his breast, and makes a handsome 

 ruff by raising the iridescent plumage about his neck. 



The Bronze Turkey: There is a bronze breed of turkey that has a 

 very close resemblance to the North American wild turkey. 



From its neck halfway to the middle of its back the plumage 

 is bronze, glittering with green and purple tones. Each feather 

 is tipped with a narrow black band. The breast plumage is the 

 same. As for the lower back, it is black except for a bronze edging 

 on each feather. The long quills on the wings are crossed with 

 black-and-white bands, and each feather of the fan-shaped tail is 

 banded with black and brown and at the end has a black bar 

 tipped with white. 



The hen's plumage is similar in color except that her breast, 

 neck, and wings are not so brilliant, being dimmed by a line of 

 white at the tip of each feather. The warty, wrinkled skin over 

 the head and neck of both sexes is colorful: bluish white on the 

 crown, grayish blue about the eyes, and the rest red. In the male 

 the colors are more vivid. 



Turkey With Trimmings: Turkeys have several distinctive "trim- 

 mings." The wattle (as in chickens) is a hanging fold below the 

 throat. Above the beak is the "caruncle," a fleshy, pointed knob 

 which on the gobbler is long enough to fall over, and hang below, 

 the beak. When the bird is angry, both these parts swell and turn 

 a more brilliant red. 



On all toms, and occasionally on a hen, you will see a "beard" a 

 bunch of black bristles hanging from the center of the breast. 

 These hang limply when the birds are feeding, but when a gobbler 

 struts, he thrusts the beard forward. 



How the Turkey Got Its Name: Despite the Thanksgiving lore 

 absorbed at school or perhaps because of it your youngster may 

 raise this point: "Did the Pilgrims have to go out and shoot 



