22 TtTBKEY OULTURE. 



nary observer by not extending beyond the covert. The 

 markings are similar to those of primary wing feathers, 

 but are usually not so decided in white. I have examined 

 flock after flock for this defect, and find it every time. 

 This defect should be punished without mercy, and, I am 

 ashamed to say, many of our best breeders and judges have 

 never discovered it. Can you blame me for asking for 

 specialty judges? We often find the edging to tail covert 

 and lesser coverts, as they extend up the back, to be cinna- 

 mon in color. It denotes Wild blood and should be cut as 

 a defect, as such edging should be of a dull white or gray. 

 It is seldom that we find young turkeys as brilliant or 

 clean in wing color as aged birds. The female is like 

 the male in color, only not so clear or brilliant, and the 

 breast feathers must be edged with dull white, or gray. If 

 breeders and judges will only accept my advice, they will 

 find I am leading them to the brink of success. 



THE BLACK TUKKEY. 



H. S. BABCOCK. 



It is quite probable that the Black turkey was produced 

 from the domesticated Wild, either by continuously select- 

 ing the blackest specimens, those showing the least ten 

 dency toward bands, or that through melanism a black 

 specimen or specimens sported from the common kind, and 

 became the foundation of this variety. The Black is a 

 long-established variety. In certain parts of England it 

 was, until quite recently, the favorite variety, and is known 

 there as the Black Norfolk, having been long bred in Nor- 

 folk. The introduction of the Bronze turkey into England 

 has done considerable, in recent years, to depose it of its 

 quondam supremacy. The Black is a handsome vari- 

 ety. All black fowls are handsome, American prejudices 

 to the contrary notwithstanding. Black plumage means 

 black beak and legs, or approximately so, with white skin. 

 Black is the most lustrous plumage we have. In the sun- 



