THE TURKEY. Ill 



she has chosen a spot, seldom leave it on account of its being 

 discovered by a human intruder. Should she find one of her 

 eggs, however, sucked by a snake, or other enemy, she aban- 

 dons the nest forever. When the eggs are near hatching, the 

 hen will not forsake her nest while life remains. 



The young are very sensible to the effects of damp ; hence, 

 after a rainy season, wild turkeys are always scarce. The 

 flesh of the wild turkey is very superior to that of the domestic 

 bird ; yet that of such of the latter as have been suffered to 

 roam at large in the woods and plains is, in no respect, 

 improved by this partially wild mode of life. The wild bird is 

 frequently domesticated in America ; but I understand that 

 thess individuals are not very steady, and will, on the first 

 opportunity, return to their native haunts. C. Lucien Bona- 

 parte relates that a gentleman in West Chester county, New 

 York, once procured a young female wild turkey, in order to 

 try the experiment of crossing the breed with the domestic 

 bird ; but, owing to some accident, it did not succeed, and in the 

 ensuing spring the hen disappeared. She returned, however, 

 in the autumn, followed by a large brood, and remained in the 

 farm till the following spring, when she again disappeared, 

 but returned in autumn with a second brood ; and this she 

 continued to do for several years. 



Some writers have greatly exaggerated the weight of the 

 wild turkey ; and some have even asserted that they have met 

 with individuals of sixty pounds' weight. M. Bonaparte states 

 the average weight of the hen to be from eight to nine pounds, 

 and that of the cock from fifteen to twenty. A knowledge of 

 the natural habits of the bird is of the greatest importance in 

 guiding us as to its treatment in a state of domestication ; and 

 we, accordingly, should avoid condemning to the confinement 

 of close, and often filthy hen-houses, a bird which, in a state 

 of nature, always perches in the open air. Open sheds and 



