FLESH FOOD FTTHNISHED BY THE FEATHERED TEIBES. 153 



higher their value per lb., on the same principle that 

 salmon of 20 lbs. and upwards fet'eh 6d. more in the 

 spring and early summer months for the large West-end 

 dinner parties. The great bulk of these go in their 

 feathers to the London salesmen ; but the wives of the 

 small fanners take them picked to Norwich, and sell 

 them in the market, where very large ones, trussed and 

 ready for the spit, have made Is. 6d. per lb. at Christmas. 

 Hen birds, which get fat sooner, and are generally killed 

 off before the end of November, are thought to be a 

 daintier morsel than the " gobblers." Some two-year- 

 old cocks (beyond which age they are very seldom kept) 

 have been killed at 30 lbs., when a heavy weight is 

 wanted for an audit dinner ; and with very high feeding, 

 in one or two rare instances, prize birds have turned the 

 scale at 40 lbs. 



The turkey was long unknown to the Greeks, there 

 being no turkeys in Europe during their palmy days. 

 Sophocles is the first who mentions it. In Egypt it was 

 still more rare. It was first introduced into Rome in 

 the year 115 before our era, where it was regarded as an 

 object of uncommon curiosity. A century later they 

 had greatly multiplied, but afterwards declined again. 

 Two were exhibited as curiosities at Athens about the 

 middle of the sixth century. It is said that the modems 

 owe their introduction to the Jesuits, who imported them 

 from America. Hurtant asserts that the first turkey 

 was introduced in France at the wedding dinner of 

 Charles IX., and that it was admired as a very extraor- 

 dinary thing. Bouche, the historian of Provence, de- 

 clares that the French are indebted for the turkey to 

 King Ren^, who died in 1480 ; and Beckmann again 

 denies its existence in France previous to the sixteenth 

 cantury. The English first tasted this new dish in 

 1525, the 15tb year of the reign of Henry VIII. 



There are about 1,800,500 turkeys in France, worth 8 

 frs. apiece, equal to 14,404,000 frs. A fifth of these with 

 about 70,000 males, or 430,000, are sold for food, and, 

 valued at 8 frs. a-piece, yield 3,441,120 frs. The 1,370,360 



