162 [Assembly 



great Franklin thought so highly of the bird, that he expressed 

 regret, that it should not have been preferred to the bald eagle 

 as an emblem of the United States. We will here insert a letter 

 written by the old revolutionary patriot, in his plain, clear, ner- 

 vous style, soon after the question was decided. " For my own 

 part," he says, " I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the 

 representative of our country ; he is a bird of bad moral charac- 

 ter, he does not get his living honestly ; you may have seen him 

 perched on some dead tree, where too lazy to fish for himself, he 

 watches the labor of the fishing hawk, and when that diligent 

 bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest, for 

 the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues, 

 and takes it from him. With all this injustice, he is never in 

 good case, but like those among men, who live by sharping and 

 robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy ; besides, he 

 is a rank coward ; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow, 

 attacks him boldly, and drives him out of the district. He is, 

 therefore, by no means a proper emblem for the brave Cincinnati 

 of America, who have driven all the king birds from our count- 

 ry, lam on this account not displeased that the figure is not 

 known as a bald eagle, but looks more like a turkey. For in 

 truth the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, 

 and withal, a true original native of America. Eagles have been 

 found in all countries, but the turkey w^as peculiar to ours. He 

 is, besides, (though a little vain and silly, 'tis true, but not the 

 worse emblem for that,) a bird of courage, and would not hesi- 

 tate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should pre- 

 sume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on." Messrs. Wil- 

 son and Bonaparte say, in their work of American Ornithology — 

 " so far from the wild turkey having gained by the care of man, 

 and the abundance of food accessible in its state of domestication, 

 it is inferior considerably in size, and greatly so in beauty ; it has . 

 degenerated not only in Europe and Asia, but what is certainly 

 extraordinary, even in its native country. The domesticated tur- 

 key of America, accustomed as it is to roam in the woods and 

 open fields, almost without restraint, is in no respect superior to 

 that of the European poultry yard. The male, wild, when full 

 grown, is nearly/uur feet in length, and more than five in extent; 



