].20 HISTORY OF 



Btate they do not appear to be possessed of mucb. Tbey see.n 

 Tstupid, vain, querulous tribe, apt enough to quarrel among 

 themselves, yet without any weapons to ^o each other an .w 

 Every body kr.ows the strange antipathy the turkey-cock ha to 

 a red colour; how he bristles, and, with his peculiar gobbling 

 sound, flies to attack it.-But there is another method of in- 

 creasing the animosity of these birds agamst each other, w ach 

 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 tur- 

 keys 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 



"" But though so furious among themselves, they are weak and 

 cowardly against other animals, though far less powerful than 

 thev The cock often makes the turkey keep at a distance ; 

 and they seldom venture to attack him but with united force, 

 when they rather oppress him by their weight, than annoy him 

 by their arms. There is no animal, how contemptible soever 

 that will venture boldly to face the turkey-cock, that he will 

 not flv from. On the contrary, with the msolence of a buUy, 

 he pursues any thing that seems to fear him, particularly lap- 

 dogs and children, against both which he seems to have a pe- 

 cuSar aversion. On such occasions, after he has made them 

 scamper, be returns to his female train, displays his plumage 

 around, stmts about the yard, and gobbles out a note of self- 

 approbation. • 



* The wUd turkeys are much more bulky than the domestic n.rkeys. 

 «4S from twenty even to sixty pounds. -^^'if^J^lf'^Z 

 offZLm deep bro«-n; all the feathers are sbghtly undulated wth 

 very Scate traits of bro^,m. The males exhibit varying tmts wlach give 



''ttZr:lT^T^ numerous flocks of many hundreds. They fre 

 ouent woods and coppices during the day. where they feed on acorns. They 

 retumin he evening into marshes, where they pass the night Theyperch 



m tree ^^d are not unfrequently hunted with hounds. Wild t^vrkeys are 

 find fr'om the country of the IlUnois. as far as «- Isthmus of Panam. 

 The birds which travellers have met more to the southward, and mistaken 



or turkeys, are hoccos. They live for the most part m forests, and feed 

 on wild fruits : the acorn of the green oak fattens them very much. Tl e.r 

 tteshs preferable to that of the domestic breed, and its flavour approaches 

 Jo ia of uL pheasant. These birds qmt the woods in the months of Sep. 



