164 [Assembly 



year the hairy tuft is about three inches long^ in the third, the 

 turkey attains its full stature, although it certainly increases in 

 size and beauty for several years longer. Females of four years 

 old, have their full size and coloring ; they then possess the pec- 

 toral fascicle, four or five inches long, which according to Audu- 

 bon, they exhibit a little on the second year, if not barren ; this 

 fascicle though is much thinner than that of the male. The 

 barren hens do not attain this distinction, until quite an advanced 

 age, and being preferable for the table, the hunters single them 

 from the flock, and kill them as being superior to others. The 

 female wild turkey is more frequently furnished with the hairy 

 tuft than the tame. The great number of young hens without 

 itj has no doubt given rise to the incorrect assertion of a few 

 writers, that the female is always destitute of it. 



The weight of the hen generally averages about nine pounds. 

 Audubon has shot barren hens, in strawberry time, weighing 

 thirteen pounds, and he has seen some few so fat as to burst open 

 by falling from a tree after being shot. Wild animals generally 

 are not only larger than tame ones of the same species, but they 

 are considerably more tender, and their tenderness continues more 

 or less through life. If killed at the right season, and when in a 

 good state, their flesh is more juicy and of a more delicious flavor. 

 The flesh of deer, or venison, Is more delicate and fine in a wild 

 state, than when kept and fattened in parks or large inclosures ; 

 high feed and a domesticated life generally deteriorate their flesh 

 for the table. It is said, too, they are not so long lived j the same 

 we should suppose with the turkey. Audubon says male turkies 

 of thirty pounds are not rare ; he also says he saw one in the 

 Louisville market that weighed thirty-six pounds ; the pectoral 

 appendage of this bird measured over a foot in length. Bartram 

 describes a specimen of great size and beauty, reared from an egg 

 found in the forest and hatched by a common hen. When this 

 turkey stood erect, the head was three feet from the ground ; the 

 animal was stately and handsome, and did not seem insensible of 

 the admiration he excited. The wild turkey is of a glossy dark 

 color ; he is generally called b*lack ; he is not black, like the crow, 

 he is more of a ferruginous or iron color, with small shining cop- 

 pery bronze spots, especially on the wings and tail. Audubon 



