94 A HISTORY OF 



with him, which is trained to the sport, (a faithful, rough creature 

 supposed to be originally reclaimed from the wolf) and he sends him into 

 the midst of the flock. The turkey no sooner perceive their enemy 

 than they set off running at full speed, and with such swiftness tha 

 they leave the dog far behind them ; he follows, nevertheless, and sen 

 sible they must soon be tired, as they cannot go full speed for any 

 length of time, he at last forces them to take shelter in a tree, where 

 they sit quite spent and fatigued, till the hunter comes up, and with a 

 l;>ng pole knocks them down one after another. 



This manner of suffering themselves to be destroyed, argues no 

 great instinct in the animal ; and indeed, in their captive state, they 

 do not appear to be possessed of much. They seem a stupid, vain, 

 querulous tribe, apt enough to quarrel among themselves, yet without 

 any weapons to do each other any injury. Every body knows the 

 strange antipathy the turkey-cock has to a red colour ; how he bris- 

 tles, and with his peculiar gobbling sound flies to attack it. But there 

 is another method of increasing the animosity of these birds against 

 each other, which is often practised by boys, when they have a mind 

 for a battle. This is no more than to smear over the head of one of 

 the turkeys with dirt, and the rest run to attack it with all the speed 

 of impotent animosity: nay, two of them thus disguised will fight each 

 other till they are almost suffocated with fatigue and anger. 



But though so furious among themselves, they are weak and cow- 

 ardly against other animals, though far less powerful than they. The 

 cock often makes the turkey keep at a distance, and they seldom ven- 

 ture to attack him but with united force, when they rather oppress 

 him by their weight than annoy him by their arms. There is no ani- 

 mal, how contemptible soever, that will venture boldly to face the 

 turkey-cock, that he will not fly from. On the contrary, with the in- 

 solence of a bully he pursues any thing that seems to fear him, par- 

 ticularly lap-dogs and children, against both which he seems to have 

 a peculiar aversion. On such occasions, after he has made them 

 scamper, he returns to his female train, displays his plumage around, 

 struts about the yard, and gobbles out a note of self-approbation. 



The female seems of a milder, gentler disposition. Rather queru- 

 lous than bold, she hunts about in quest of grain, and pursuit of in- 

 sects, being particularly delighted with the eggs of ants and caterpil- 

 lars. She lays eighteen or twenty eggs, larger than those of a hen, 

 whitish, but marked with spots resembling the freckles of the face. 

 Her young are extremely tender at first, and must be carefully fed 

 with curd chopped with dock leaves ; but as they grow older, they be- 

 come more hardy, and follow the mother to considerable distances in 

 pursuit of insect food, which they prefer to any other. On these oc- 

 casions, however, the female though so large, and, as it would seem, 

 so powerful a bird, gives them but very little protection against the at- 

 tacks of any rapacious animal that comes in her way. She rather 

 warns her young to shift fo % r themselves than prepares to defend them. 

 " I have heard," "says the Abbe la Pluche, " a turkey-hen, when at 

 the head of her brood, send forth the most hideous screams, without 

 knowing as yet the cause : however, her young, immediately when 

 the warning was given, skulked under the bushes, the grass, or what- 

 ever else offered for shelter or protection. They even stretched them 



