TURKEY AND OYSTERS. 227 



captivity does not destroy the race, it sadly dims their 

 colours, and in the third generation at the farthest 

 the brilliant purple lustre and glossy metallic bronze 

 of the back and wings, and the rich green, bright 

 chestnut, and velvety black of many feathers have 

 sobered into brown ochre, and dull sooty black. 



Of course there are plenty of opponents who deny 

 the whole scheme as an . impossibility. Some assert 

 that no animal will prosper except in its own land, and 

 that all imported specimens will die out unless re- 

 cruited by fresh arrivals. Now the turkey happens to 

 be one of the very beings whose existence is thus 

 denied. We want no importation of wild turkeys from 

 America in order to add vigour to our domesticated 

 specimens, and the possibility of acclimatisation is thus 

 triumphantly proved. On the contrary, their habits 

 are already too wild ; they are terrible rovers, require 

 to be watched as carefully as a sentinel watches his 

 prisoners, and employ every device in order to escape 

 from constraint. A hen turkey, for example, always 

 tries to steal away just before laying, and establishes her 

 nest in some spot so well concealed that it frequently 

 escapes all the sharp eyes that have been searching for 

 it. It is by no means a rare occurrence for a hen turkey 

 to be suddenly missed from the farm-yard, and after 

 some weeks have elapsed to return with perfect com- 

 posure, leading a whole train of young chicks behind her. 



The turkey has a great objection to confinement, 

 and is a very gipsy in its love for open air. If pos- 



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