THE COMMON THE HORNED TURKEY. 2^29 



Though inspirer of fear, yet of cowardice son : 

 The fierce chanticleer is seen often to shun. 



enter here into the domestic management of this, nor, indeed, 

 of any other bird ; but the reader who is desirous of ob- 

 taining information concerning the best method of rearing 

 domestic poultry, may consult my Family Cyclopedia, arti- 

 cles Hen, Turkey, Duck, Goose, &c. It is scarcely neces- 

 sary to add, that the turkey is excellent food. This bird was 

 introduced into England during the reign of Henry VIII. It 

 consists of several varieties, which are, very probably, increased 

 by continued domestication. 



The Salyra, or Horned-Turkey, has the head with two 

 horns, callous, blue, bent back ; body red, with eye-like spots ; 

 caruncle of the chin dilatable, blue, varied with rufous. The 

 female has the head covered with feathers, is hornless and without 

 guiar caruncle; feathers of the head and upper part of the neck 

 black-blue, long, incumbent ; rest of the body as in the male ; 

 rather less than the preceding ; inhabits India. 



The wild turkey cock is, in the American forests, an object of 

 considerable interest. It perches on the tops of the cypress 

 and magnolia ; and, in the months of March and April, at early 

 dawn, for an hour, or more, the forests ring with the crowing of 

 these American sentinels, the watch-word being caught and re- 

 peated from one to another for, Bartram says, hundreds of 

 miles round. Mr. Southey, in Madocj vol. i. page '265, thus 

 describes this occurrence : 



**0n the top 

 Of yon magnolia the loud turkey's voice 

 Is heralding the dawn ; from tree to tree 

 Extends the wakening watch note far and wide, 

 Till the whole woodlands echo with the cry." 



The wild turkey is said to be, in the American woods, a mi- 

 'gratory bird ; not, indeed, by the assistance of the wings, but 

 by walking. 

 I have lately seen the keel of the sternum of a turkey, that 



