282 Farm Poultry 



when full grown, are about four feet high and weigh, 

 according to the section of the country they are 

 taken in, from 15 to 20 pounds each. They do not 

 get their full growth until the end of the third year, 

 and increase in weight and beauty for several years 

 after that. Gobblers weighing 36 and 40 pounds have 

 often been shot. . . . Wild gobblers mate Hter 

 and the hens lay later than domestic turkeys. The 

 flesh of wild birds is of excellent flavor and is more 

 delicate and juicy than that of domestic turkeys."* 

 The Rhode Island Experiment Station speaks 

 as follows of wild turkey crosses :f " Where wild 

 turkeys are plenty, crosses between wild and domes- 

 tic birds frequently occur without design on the 

 part of the owner of the latter. Scores of cases 

 are recorded where a wild gobbler from the woods 

 has taken possession of a flock of common turkeys, 

 sometimes after first battling with and killing the 

 domestic gobbler. The results of such a cross in 

 almost every case have been so satisfactory that 

 such matings are much desired by turkey-raisers 

 in those sections, and young wild birds are caught 

 for this purpose and brought up with common 

 young turkeys. Very often nests of wild turkey 

 eggs are found in the woods and hatched on the 

 farm. These domesticated wild birds usually persist 

 in roosting separate from the others, generally in 



* Bulletin 25, Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station, p. 116. 

 tSame, p. 119. 



