209 



THE DOMESTIC TUliKEY. 



rare, and whose tuft is sometimes black and 

 sometimes white." 



Turkeys in the neighborhood of large woods, 

 if not watched and prevented, will eagerly stroll 

 thither without any design to return, such is 

 the natural wildness of their species. In cor- 

 roboration of the above, an instance was com- 

 municated by a correspondent in the Sporting 

 Magazine, of May, 1824, who says, " Two years 

 last harvest, a two year old cock and two hens 

 of the same, belonging to me, were seen to prowl 

 in a wood of eighty acres, a short distance from 

 my house ; and night coming on before they 

 were observed by the person who had charge 

 of them, all attempts to recover them were 

 in vain. No tidings being had of them, all 

 efforts to rescue them proved fruitless ; and as 

 nothing was heard of them for several months, 

 I, of course, concluded that they were either 

 picked up by some persons who had stumbled 

 upon them, or had been killed by foxes. About 

 six months ago, however, I was riding through 

 a large covert about half a mile from that into 

 which my turkeys were seen to go, when a hen, 

 apparently in a state of alarm, ran before my 

 horse's feet, and disappeared in the bushes. It 

 immediately occurred to me, as the color was 

 O 



the same, that she was one of the hens T had 

 lost more than two years before. I have since 

 caught her, and she is now in my yard. The 

 other hen, which has young ones, was also 

 caught, but on being given to a boy to hold, 

 broke away from him again, and is still in the 

 wood, with the cock-bird and the young ones.. 

 The one that I recovered had been sitting on 

 eggs, as was evident from the state of her breast.. 

 Thuf have these birds survived two winters, one 

 a very severe one, in the woods, without either 

 food or shelter, except that which nature pro- 

 vided for them." 



That the turkey is susceptible of education is 

 obvious from the following very interesting facts 

 communicated to the author by Mr. L. Kenne- 

 dy, of Hartford : " A few years ago I purchased 

 a pair of turkeys, kept them through the winter, 

 and in the spring, instead of laying at home, 

 they absconded. After hunting them up a 

 number of times, sometimes finding them two 

 miles oif, I killed them. In the fall I procured 

 another pair, and as the snow melted away they 

 began to play at the same tricks ; but by shut- 

 ting them up I obtained a few eggs, and raised 

 three young ones. When they were about half- 

 grown I killed the old ones. One of the young 



