THE BREEDS OF TURKEYS. 1? 



tion with the neck, rises in a gentle curve to about the 

 center, which is the highest point, and then descends to 

 the tail. The feathers are of the richest bronze, each end- 

 ing in a narrow band of black, and in the sunlight they 

 are indescribably beautiful. The broad, full and promi- 

 nent breast is covered with plumage of dark bronze. The 

 body is long, well rounded, and midway of its length 

 quite deep, and the feathers are black with bronze shad- 

 ings, less lustrous, though beautiful, than those upon the 

 back and breast. In fact, in almost all fowls kept by man, 

 the top plumage is much the richest, and is so, probably, 

 because of the effects of the sun upon it. Even in varie- 

 ties which are supposed to be uniform in coloring, like 

 the Buff Cochin, the upper plumage is much the richest in 

 coloring. The wings have a wide spread, and the muscles 

 are strong enough to enable the heavy bird to rise to a 

 considerable hight from the ground. The primary feath- 

 ers, when the wing is opened, are seen to be black or 

 nearly so, with more or less regular penciling of gray or 

 white. The secondaries are like the primaries but as one 

 counts from the primaries, they are seen to have more and 

 more brown and bronze, and less and less of white or gray. 

 The wing bows are black with a rich greenish or bronzy 

 luster, and the coverts are similar in color, each ending in 

 a broad band of black that makes a bar across the wings. 

 The long tail consists of feathers the ground color of which 

 is black, and across which are irregularly placed narrow 

 bands of light brown, terminating in a broad band of black 

 with a wide gray margin. The tail coverts do not differ 

 materially from the main feathers of the tail, except that as 

 they approach the back they grow richer in bronze shadings. 

 The stout thighs, of good length, are clad in dark, bronze- 

 colored feathers, and the shanks, which are long and stout in 

 bone, are in immature birds almost black, but in adult 

 birds they become flesh-colored. This fact will enable one 

 to decide with some certainty upon the age of a turkey. 



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