V 



THE WILD TURKEY 



ANYONE who has seen a wild turkey strutting in 

 the sunlight, his bronze feathers gleaming with 

 a metallic lustre and reflecting rays of deep purple, 

 red, green, and blue, will be prepared to agree with 

 the ornithologists that he is a pheasant. The wild 

 turkey, in pattern and markings, is similar to the domes- 

 ticated bird, but he is far handsomer. Wild turkeys 

 often are very heavy ; there are records of birds weigh- 

 ing as much as twenty-five and thirty pounds. The 

 flesh is even finer- than that of the tame bird, and 

 without doubt the turkey is the largest and most mag- 

 nificent game bird in the world and one of the best, if 

 not the best, of food birds. The wild turkey is indig- 

 enous to the Western hemisphere alone ; the other 

 pheasants are found on the other side of the globe, 

 except the two recently introduced into the United 

 States. 



The range of the turkey given in the check list of 

 the American Ornithological Union is : — " United 

 States from Chesapeake Bay to Gulf Coast, and west 

 to the plains, along wooded river valleys, formerly 

 north to Southern Maine, Southern Ontario, and up the 

 Missouri River to North Dakota." Three other varie- 

 ties of turkey are listed, all with a more limited range; 

 The Mexican turkey, the Florida turkey, and the Rio 



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