CHAPTER XII. 

 TURKEYS AND GUINEA-FOWLS. 



" 



up your dogs and plant turkeys. Joaquin Miller. 



This noble bird, next to the chicken 

 .^ in importance among the denizens of the 

 poultry yard, is a nati\ e of North America, 

 and is found in a wild state from Mexico 



to Canada, east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 > > 



It is supposed that the wild turkey of 



Mexico is the parent stock from which 

 our domesticated bird is derived. 



Years ago the farm-yard flock was a somewhat 

 variegated lot, but by skilful mating modern breeders 

 have fixed certain characteristics of color and size so. 

 that we now have six quite distinct varieties, recog- 

 nized and described in the " Standard of Perfection."" 

 The names of these, with the standard weight of adult 

 birds, male and female, are the Bronze, thirty-five and 

 twenty pounds ; Narragansett, thirty-two and twenty- 

 two pounds ; Buff, twenty-seven and eighteen pounds ; 

 Slate, twenty-seven and eighteen pounds ; White,, 

 twenty-six and sixteen pounds ; Black, twenty-seven 

 id eighteen pounds. 



The weights above named are only reached, as a 

 rule, by birds that are two years old or over. Some- 

 times they are exceeded even by younger specimens. 

 In 1866, a Connecticut woman sent to President John- 

 sou a gobbler, not quite two years old, that tipped the 

 'earn at forty-seven pounds. 



