TURKEYS. 



211 



again. We removed them the second and third 

 time, feeding them plentifully, but all to no 

 purpose ; leave the poultry-yard they would not. 



The following account of the propensity in a 

 cock turkey for incubation was related by a cor- 

 respondent of the Genesee Farmer: "The cir- 

 cumstance," says the writer, " I am about to re- 

 late, as far as I know, is not common, if it ex- 

 ists at all. I have been in the habit of rearing 

 a good many domestic fowls, and among them 

 have been rather partial to the turkey, particu- 

 larly to fat ones about Christmas. Among a 

 brood I once possessed, there was one male, 

 who was a long-legged, gander-shanked fellow, 

 of a most unique appearance. During the pe- 

 riod of incubation one of the hens began to sit, 

 and she, seeming to know the old gentleman's 

 propensity, was very careful to manage in a very 

 private and secret manner. The cock began to 

 grow uneasy, and mounted the stumps and 

 fences, watching for the appearance of the hen, 

 and peering about to find the place of her con- 

 cealment, which he usually discovered the first 

 or second day ; when he, by virtue of his au- 

 thority as one of the lords of creation, immedi- 

 ately took possession of the nest, and from that 

 time forward, till the period of hatching, went 

 on with the regular process, when he brought 

 off his brood, and duly carried them forward to 

 maturity ; when the hen, poor simple wife, was 

 allowed to trudge along at a respectable dis- 

 tance, in the true after-honeymoon style. 



"Although I am aware that certain other 

 birds, male and female, alternately sit upon the 

 nest during the period of incubation, yet I am 

 not informed of any case where a male has 

 shown such a decided passion and propensity 

 for the sedentary habit of hatching eggs. This 

 he has performed for three years in succession, 

 and being such a notable exhibition of pugna- 

 cious opposition to petticoat government, he 

 became quite a favorite, and I intended to have 

 kept him as an example to some of my neigh- 

 bors, and as a rara avis in terris. But one night 

 he came up missing, and whether he was sacri- 

 ficed as a target at a Christmas gambol, or made 

 one at Master Reynard's supper, or is even yet 

 sitting on eggs that proved addled, I was never 

 able to ascertain." 



" The antipathy," says Mowbray, " which the 

 turkey cock entertains for any thing of a red 

 color, is well known ; and indeed will never be 

 forgotten by myself, who, at about the age of 

 eight years, having on a red waistcoat, was 

 chased by two of them around a very extensive 

 yard, to my most terrible affright and discom- 

 fiture." 



Hearing Turkeys. The first great requisite is 

 to have good stock to raise from, both male and 

 female. The cock turkey should be of a large 

 size, and as he does not attain to his full growth 

 till he is two or three ycnrs old, one of this age 

 is to be preferred, though yearlings are gener- 

 ally made to answer. The color should be jet- 

 black or bronze, with legs to match. There is 

 very little difficulty in finding a cock turkey 

 whose strut is sufficiently martial to satisfy the 

 most precise stickler for a military carriage. 

 With tail spread and erect, breast inflated, and 

 head and throat inflamed, he marches a perfect 

 Haynau of the poultry-yard. The number of 

 females that should constitute his harem are 

 hardly ever more than can be suitably provided 

 for by him. A great point is to prevent a de- 

 terioration of stock by breeding in-and-in. It 

 is, therefore, necessary to change the cock tur- 

 key every year. A strong and healthy brood 

 of chicks is thus secured. 



With the same view, the largest hen turkeys 

 and if more than a year old the better should 

 be reserved for mothers. If you expect a large 

 litter of eggs, the hens must be well kept through 

 the winter, but not so as to become very fat, 

 otherwise they will not lay so early as is desir- 

 able. If they do not begin to lay till May, they 

 will not complete their litter and be ready to 

 sit till June, which will bring the hatch into 

 July; and thus only five months allowed for 

 their growth until the period arrives for Thanks- 

 giving turkeys. It is considered, therefore, by 

 experienced persons, quite an object to have an 

 early litter of eggs. 



The turkey is an out-of-door bird. In this 

 respect he retains, even in his domesticated 

 state, that love of freedom which characterizes 

 the aborigines of our country. Turkeys have 

 no fondness for a shed or shelter for a roosting- 

 place ; but in the coldest weather in winter, in 



