THE TURKEY 69 



" Incubation presents no difficulties, the female 

 turkey being so good a brooder. Like the common 

 hen, she devotes herself to her eggs with passionate 

 love ; like the hen, too, while setting she forgets her 

 food, so that she must be taken off the nest every day 

 and made to eat and drink, as otherwise she might 

 let herself die of hunger. The little ones hatch at 

 the end of thirty days. There is nothing more deli- 

 cate than these new-born chicks ; the least cold chills 

 them, a shower of rain is fatal to them, even the dew 

 imperils their lives, and a hot sun kills them in a 

 trice. If there is delay in feeding, and the mother, 

 of ponderous bulk, awkwardly plants her feet in the 

 midst of her numerous offspring, then the greedy 

 little things are liable to be trampled on and crushed 

 to death. Another danger awaits them at the age of 

 two or three months. Young turkeys hatch with the 

 heads covered with down, with no sign of the red nip- 

 ples that will ornament them later. Within two or 

 three months these nipples, real collars, and pend- 

 ants jof coral begin to show ; they say then that the 

 red is starting. At this time there takes place in 

 the bird a painful change which to many is mortal, 

 especially in a damp season. To succor the sick 

 ones, they are made to swallow a few mouthfuls of 

 warm wine. All things considered, there are num- 

 berless chances of death for the turkey-hen's brood. 

 Add to that the small number of eggs laid, and we 

 can understand why, in spite of its great utility, the 

 turkey is less common than the ordinary fowl. 



u Audubon has told us that when, from his con- 



