THE BREEDS OF TURKEYS. 21 



narrow. The breast must be full and nicely rounded, 

 but not to drop so low as to injure the form, as is some- 

 times seen in aged toms. 



If a specimen is really brilliant in color, there is but lit- 

 tle chance to cut till you get to wing, back and tail, and 

 sometimes legs. The primary wing feathers must be black, 

 or nearly so, each feather to be evenly penciled with 

 white or gray bars. Many Bronze turkeys are very faulty 

 in primary color, as those feathers are very apt to be too 

 dull and irregular in penciling, especially as we near the 

 quill ends of those feathers. The secondary feathers are 

 not so clearly denned, and usually have a narrow edging of 

 white or gray on the outside web of feathers. As you leave 

 the center of secondary feathers, and count up towards the 

 back, the color rapidly changes to a bronzy brown, which 

 has more or less luster when seen in the sunlight. Occa- 

 sionally we find a specimen with solid black feathers, and 

 sometimes several of them in primary or secondary feathers. 

 They should be punished by heavy cutting. It is a grand 

 wing, indeed, that escapes with an honest cut of one point. 



The standard calls for a black tail irregularly penciled 

 with narrow bands of light brown. It is a mistaken idea 

 for a judge to think a Bronze turkey must have a fully 

 penciled tail, for I find that brown predominates over the 

 black in most every instance with such tails, and if a per- 

 son continues to breed from birds with fully penciled tails, 

 we soon destroy the black band on tail covert, that is so 

 Liiuch admired by true Bronze turkey fanciers. Again, I will 

 say that where we use so much penciling we lighten the 

 color of thigh in many specimens, and I would advise judges 

 to be more lenient with tails containing less penciling. 



Many years since, I discovered white penciling under the 

 tail covert on the main tail feathers of many Bronze tur- 

 keys. It usually confines itself to two or four of the cen- 

 ter feathers, and sometimes extends the entire length of the 

 tail feathers. It usually keeps out of sight from the ordi- 



