THE TURKEY. 109 



and at the lower part of the neck is a tuft of black hair, eight 

 or nine inches in length. 



The feathers are, at the base, of a light, dusky tinge, suc- 

 ceeded by a brilliant metallic band, which changes, according 

 to the point whence the light falls upon it, to bronze, copper, 

 violet, or purple ; and the tip is formed by a narrow, black, 

 velvety band. This last marking is absent from the neck and 

 breast. The color of the tail is brown, mottled with black, 

 and crossed with numerous lines of the latter color ; near the 

 tip is a broad, black band, then a short, mottled portion, and 

 then a broad band, of dingy yellow. The wings are white, 

 banded closely with black, and shaded with brownish-yellow, 

 which deepens in tint towards the back. The head is very 

 small in proportion to the size of the body ; the legs and feet 

 are strongly made, and furnished with blunt spurs, about an 

 inch long, and of a dusky, reddish color; the bill is reddish, 

 and horn-colored at the tip. 



The hen is less in size than the cock ; her legs are desti- 

 tute of spurs ; her neck and head are less naked, being fur- 

 nished with short, dirty, gray feathers ; the feathers on the 

 back of the neck have brownish tips, producing on that part a 

 brown, longitudinal band. She also frequently, but not inva- 

 riably, wants the tuft of feathers on the breast. Her prevailing 

 color is a dusky gray, each feather having a metallic band, less 

 brilliant than that of the cock, then a blackish band, and a 

 grayish fringe. Her whole color is, as usual among birds, 

 duller than that of the cock ; the wing-feathers display less 

 white, and have no bands ; the tail is similarly colored to that 

 of the cock. When young, the sexes are so much alike, that 

 it is not easy to discern the difference between them ; and the 

 cock acquires his beauty only by degrees, his plumage not 

 arriving at perfection until the fourth or fifth year. 

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