TURKEYS,, PEAFOWLS, GUINEAS, PHEASANTS 433 



occurs often in wild turkeys and, mingling with the bronze, is doubt- 

 less a most potent agent in keeping the color darker than that of 

 the domestic bronze selected for lighter, more brilliant color. 



The White Turkey. When both white and black varieties of a 

 bird are found, it is usual to consider the white a sport from the 

 black. While such 

 sports may occur, the 

 history of white vari- 

 eties of fowls shows 

 that they are largely 

 made up of white 

 mongrels which ap- 

 proach the desired 

 type. The white birds 

 derived directly from 



mixed colors of the 



I 



same race seem to 



have come usually 

 from the lightest-col- 

 ored specimens of the 

 parent stock. Hence, 

 in the case of the 

 white turkey it is 

 more reasonable ,to 

 suppose that the 

 white turkeys were 

 derived by selection 

 from the same general 

 stock as the blacks, 

 than to assume that 

 they came from the 

 latter as sports, especially as no cases of sporting are recorded. 

 The name " White Holland " has been given to the white vari- 

 ety of turkey because the color was common in Holland, but it may 

 safely be asserted that the greater part of the white turkeys in 

 America have been derived by selection from flocks in which gray 

 in various shades was the prevailing color. In nearly all such 

 flocks white specimens occasionally appear. 



FIG. 461. White Turkey cock. (Photograph by 

 E.J.Hall) 



