TURKEYS 183 



as popular and as well established in other places as in those 

 mentioned. Black turkeys were the most common kind in Spain 

 and in some parts of France. In some other parts of France, 

 and in parts of Germany and Austria, White turkeys were the 

 most numerous, but in general the turkeys of Europe and 

 America were of various colors, with gray predominating. 



In the United States a local breed of very good quality was 

 developed in Rhode Island about the middle of the last century. 

 It appears to have been known at first as the Point Judith Bronze 

 Turkey, and also as the Narragansett Turkey, but the first name 

 was soon dropped and has long been forgotten by all but those 

 familiar with the early literature. The Narragansett Turkey was 

 not bronze as the term is now applied to turkeys ; it was a dark, 

 brownish-gray, which is doubtless the reason why the name was 

 changed after the distinctly bronze turkeys became well known. 

 Although the Narragansett Turkey is described in the American 

 Standard, and prizes are still offered for it at some shows, the 

 type has almost disappeared. 



Bronze turkeys. The accidental crossing of wild with tame 

 turkeys produced, in the domestic flocks where such crosses oc- 

 curred, many specimens of exceptional size and vigor, in which 

 the blending of the colors of the wild turkey with the gray of 

 the domestic birds gave rise to a very beautiful type of colora- 

 tion. It was neither black nor brown nor gray, but contained all 

 these shades and had an iridescent bronze sheen. As the crosses 

 which produced these were only occasional, the wild blood being 

 reduced in each generation removed from it, the bronze type 

 was usually soon merged with and lost in the common type. 

 As the wild birds became scarce, crosses were rare, and what 

 improvement had been accidentally made was in danger of be- 

 ing lost, when the awakening of interest in all kinds of poultry 

 stirred turkey growers to more systematic efforts for the im- 

 provement of domestic stock by crossing with the wild stock. 

 Those who were able to do so captured wild birds and bred 



