158 CLASS AVES. 



Turkeys are polygamous, and a single cock suffices for 

 twelve or fifteen females. These females will serve for about 

 five years, but the hens of two and three years old hatch the 

 most assiduously. Those of but one year do not pay suffi- 

 cient attention to their brood. The strongest and largest 

 should always be chosen for this purpose. It happens more 

 frequently with them than with hens that the eggs are 

 sterile. 



In the cold parts of Europe, the female turkey has but one 

 brood in the year, which usually takes place in March or 

 April ; but in countries exposed to a milder temperature, she 

 has two : the first in February, the second in August. 



The turkey-hen has an interval of one day between the 

 laying of each egg. When she has laid the last, she is 

 observed to remain assiduously sitting on the nest, and then 

 is the time to restore to her the eggs which had been taken 

 away successively, except the first two which she has laid, for 

 they generally prove unfruitful. Sixteen or eighteen are the 

 most which she generally receives. It is necessary to place 

 her food within her reach, for she sits so constantly that she 

 would otherwise forget to eat. The incubation lasts for 

 twenty-seven or twenty-eight days, at which time the young 

 begin to pierce their hard shell. 



This is the mode of proceeding when the number of turkeys 

 kept is not very considerable ; but the moment that the edu- 

 cation of these birds becomes an object of speculation, it is 

 necessary to confide the care of the turkies to a child, or some 

 other person, who must devote themselves entirely to it. For 

 a person who pursues the trade, there can be obtained from 

 three males and thirty females, about six hundred turkey- 

 pouts ; among which five hundred, at least, may be reckoned 

 on to live. 



The turkey-hen will be desirous of hatching immediately 

 when she has done laying ; but this should be prevented until 



