218 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



wooded districts of the western states are still plenti- 

 fully supplied with this valuable game, which there 

 forms an important part of the subsistence of the hunter 

 and the traveller. In the north-eastern states it is now 

 become extremely rare, although it is still occasionally 

 found in the mountainous parts of New Jersey and 

 Pennsylvania ; while in the south, Florida, Georgia, 

 and the Carolinas, where three centuries ago it was 

 most plentiful, have still a small supply. 



Many wonderful stories have been told of the immense 

 size which this bird attains ; and Turkeys of sixty pounds 

 and upwards in weight are spoken of as not uncommon. 

 The author of the article in the Continuation of Wil- 

 son's Ornithology, on the contrary, states the weight of 

 a hen to average about nine pounds, and that of a male 

 bird fifteen or twenty. He adds, however, that males 

 of thirty pounds are not very rare, and that he has 

 ascertained the existence of some weighing forty. Be- 

 yond this he is not disposed to go, and he considers 

 those relations in which a greater weight is mentioned 

 as fabulous. He quotes Mr. Audubon's authority for 

 having shot barren hens, in strawberry time, weighing 

 thirteen pounds, and for having seen a male in the 

 Louisville market that weighed thirty-six, and had a 

 pectoral tuft of more than a foot in length. The spe- 

 cimen figured by M. Bonaparte weighed twenty-two 

 pounds, and was killed during the lean season. It will 

 thus be seen how much the domesticated bird has 

 degenerated both in size and beauty, notwithstanding 

 all the care that has been lavished upon its education. 



The Wild Turkeys do not confine themselves to any 

 particular kind of food. They eat maize, all sorts of 

 berries, fruit, grass, and beetles ; and even tadpoles, 

 young frogs, and lizards, are occasionally found in their 

 crops. Where the pecan-nut is plentiful, they prefer it 



