AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 13 
earth,—while it is a fact fully admitted, that this bird is 
the origin whence sprung the whole domestic race of Tur- 
keys now scattered over almost every country. 
The Wild Turkey is strictly a native of North Ame- 
rica, having its range from the isthmus of Darien on the 
south, to the fiftieth degree north, —and east and west, the 
Atlantic Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. No indivi- 
dual of the species has ever been seen south of Panama, 
and it is utterly unknown beyond Lake Superior. There 
is no good reason, however, that its western range should 
be limited to the Rocky Mountains, as the country and 
climate beyond them, warrant the conclusion, that these 
birds exist even to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In 
the north Atlantic states, Turkeys have become very 
scarce, but in the south and west they are exceedingly plen- 
tiful. In Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, 
many may at all times be found; but in every state west 
of these, multitudes of these magnificent birds are conti- 
nually roaming the fields and forests. Some Turkeys still 
exist in the inaccessible hills of New-Jersey and New- 
York, but are to be found in greater numbers among the 
mountains of Pennsylvania. 
It is not precisely known at what period the Turkey 
was first introduced into Europe; but from the years 1525 
to 1530, the earliest mention is made of this bird,—while 
from that period to the present, its increase has been won- 
derfully rapid, until it has now become an inhabitant of 
almost every poultry-yard, and is regarded as a standing 
dish at all festivals, and tables of hotels and private fami- 
lies. 
Many attempts have been made to introduce the Wild 
Turkey, in its native state, on several preserves of game 
in Europe,—but with the exception of one or two in- 
stances in England, they have not succeeded. 
So greatly was the Turkey esteemed in Europe shortly 
after its introduction, that ‘‘in the year 1566, a present 
of twelve Turkeys was thought not unworthy of being 
offered by the municipality of Amiens to their king, at 
whose marriage, in 1570, it is stated they were first eaten 
in France. Hurnrespacx asserts that they were introduced 
into Germany about 1530; and a sumptuary law made at 
Venice, in 1577, particularizes the tables at which they 
were permitted to be served.”’ 
«<Those who have seen only the domesticated bird, can 
form but a faint idea of its beauty in a state of nature. 
When fully grown the male Wild Turkey measures nearly 
four feet in length, and more than five in the expanse of 
its wings. Its head, which is very small in proportion to 
its body, is covered with a naked bluish skin, which is 
eontinued over the upper half of its neck. On this skin 
are placed a number of wart-like elevations, red on the 
Bey 
Ye 
upper portion, and whitish below, interspersed with a 
few scattered blackish hairs. On the under part of the 
neck the skin is flaccid and membranous, and extends 
downwards in the shape of large wattles. From the base 
of the bill, at its junction with the forehead, rises a wrin- 
kled conical fleshy protuberance, with a pencil of hairs at 
the tip. This protuberance, when the bird is at rest, does 
not exceed an inch and a half in length, but on any ex- 
citement becomes elongated to such an extent as to cover 
the bill entirely, and to depend below it for several inches. 
The lower part of the neck, at its junction with the breast, 
is ornamented by a singular tuft of black rigid hairs, sepa- 
rating themselves from the feathers, and reaching as much 
as nine inches in length. The feathers of the body are 
long and truncated, and, generally speaking, may each be 
subdivided into four parts. Their base is formed by a 
light fuliginous down, which is followed by a dusky por- 
tion. This again is succeeded by a broad shining metallic 
band, changing to copper-colour or bronze, to violet or 
purple, according to the incidence of the light; while the 
tip is formed by a narrow black velvety band, which last 
is wanting on the neck and breast. From this disposition 
of the colours results a most beautiful changeable metallic 
gloss over the whole body of the bird, which is, however, 
less marked on the lower part of the back and tail-coverts. 
‘¢ The wings, which scarcely extend beyond the base of 
the tail, are concave and rounded. They are furnished 
with twenty-eight quill-feathers; the primaries are plain 
blackish banded with white, while the secondaries have 
the relative extent of these markings so reversed that they 
may be described as white banded with blackish; and 
tinged, especially towards the back, with brownish-yellow. 
The tail measures more than fifteen inches in length, is 
rounded at the extremity, and consists of eighteen broad 
feathers, which, when expanded and elevated, assume the 
form of a fan. It is brown, mottled with black, and 
crossed by numerous narrow undulating lines of the same. 
Near the tip is a broad black band, then follows a short 
mottled portion, and lastly a broad dingy yellowish band. 
The feet are robust, have blunt spurs about an inch in 
length, and are of a red colour, with blackish margins to 
the scales, and claws of the same dusky hue. The bill is 
reddish, and horn-coloured at the tip; and the irides are 
dark brown. 
«‘The female is considerably smaller, not exceeding 
three feet and a quarter in length. Her bill and legs are 
less robust, the latter without any rudiment of a spur; and 
her irides similar to those of the male. Her head and neck 
are less denuded, being covered by short decomposed fea- 
thers of a dirty gray. Those of the back of the neck have 
brownish tips, producing a longitudinal band on that part. 
