4 BULLETIN 467, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTTJEE, 



dinde is a corruption of pouled'Inde or "hen of India/' and suggests 

 that confusion of the East and West Indies may have added to the 

 general misunderstanding. Although they speedily became popular 

 in Europe and are now used there to a considerable extent, they are 

 not so common there as in the United States, where they rank next 

 to chickens in importance. 



Turkey flesh resembles that of chicken; it is sometimes described 

 as drier and not so full of flavor, but proper care and feeding lessen 

 these disadvantages. The proportion of meat to bone is larger in 

 turkeys than in chickens, and the fact that their flesh is found in 

 larger masses sometimes makes it possible to serve it to better advan- 

 tage, especially in the form of "left overs;" hence, pound for pound, 

 turkey is probably utilized more economically than chicken. 



There is little demand for young turkey chicks, which are very 

 scrawny and do not bear shipping well. However, in July and 

 August growers near fashionable summer resorts can sometimes sell 

 "broilers" weighing from 1^ to 4 pounds each at rather fancy prices. 

 The general market rarely sees fresh turkeys before September, and 

 the season can hardly be said to begin before the last of October. Many 

 of the birds are fattened to a very large size (25 to 30 pounds) for the 

 Thanksgiving and Christmas trade, but from January until the 

 season for fresh turkeys ends, in late February or March, medium- 

 sized birds are most abundant and are more suitable for ordinary 

 family use. The bulk of our turkey supply now comes from the 

 South, Middle West, and Southwest, but up to January native tur- 

 keys, often of excellent quality, are found in Eastern markets. 

 Practically all the turkeys marketed through the spring and summer 

 months are cold-storage birds from the great poultry-raising sections. 



GUINEA FOWLS. 



The name of these birds rightly indicates the place of their origin, 

 but since they were first found in western Africa by European ex- 

 plorers they have been carried to many parts of the world. They 

 are more generally bred in Europe than in the United States. In 

 the Southern States they are often kept along with the other poul- 

 try, and recipes in southern cookery books suggest that the birds 

 are commonly used for food in that part of the country, but it is only 

 within recent years that guinea fowls have been seen in any quan- 

 tity in northern markets. 



Young guinea fowls are sometimes said to resemble partridge in 

 flavor, and older birds, pheasants. The flesh on the breast is slightly 

 darker than in chicken and has a more gamey flavor. In fact, it is 

 this gamey quality which gives them their distinctive value in 

 elaborate menus or among epicures, and to increase it the birds are 

 allowed to hang until just before they begin to " turn." For ordinary 



