TURKEYS— THEIR CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



9 



well for the amateur to make a note of it. Again, it is well 

 to remember that the tracing or barring should extend to 

 the end of the feathers. Quite often we find a specimen that 

 is unusually good in color, especially so in primaries and 

 secondaries, except that near the end of the feather the bar- 

 ring will stop and the last two inches will be solid black. 

 When the wing of the male is perfect in color, except this 

 black, mate him with females that show more white than 

 black in their flights, and should you have one that has a 

 wing with the last bar white instead of black, she will be 

 all the more valuable as a breeder. In scoring the wing of 

 either male or female, when this black appears at the end 

 of feather the out is one point. 



If the barring is irregular, showing zig-zag tracings 

 across the wing, the out is one-half to one, as in degree. If 



examining this fowl carefully, and the photograph, while 

 good, does not do the bird justice. The photographer al- 

 lowed the lower end of the flight feathers to be taken in a 

 shadow, making the ends of the feathers look blurred. The 

 photographer was at fault, not the feathers, as we know 

 personally that the barring in this case extends to the ends 

 of the feathers. 



TAIL. 



This is another important section, especially as regards 

 color. In this respect it is next in importance to the wing — 

 in fact, a specimen with perfect wings would be debarred 

 from the breeding pen if it failed to show fairly good color 

 in this section. The tail has the same valuation as wings, 

 four for shape and six for color. As a rule, this section is 



Fig. 2— Reproduced from Photograph— Showing Standard Barring on Wing of Bronze Turkey Male. 



the barring appears only on one aMe of the quill the other 

 side showing black or a mixed up muddy color, the out is 

 ono-half to two, as in degree. If' the secondaries show a 

 slight tracing or edging of white or brown, the out is one- 

 half. If this edging is prominent epough to mar the beauty 

 of the wing, the out is one to two. If the coverts fail in the 

 black band at end of feather, causing what would be termed 

 an unfinished wing, the out is one-half to one and one-half 

 points. 



In order to show breeders the remarkable progress that 

 is being made in the breeding of this variety we refer the 

 reader to the half-tone of wing Fig. 2, on page 24. This 

 shows the wing of a bird owned by Mr. W. J. Bell. While 

 this wing is not absolutely perfect, for there is a slight 

 break in color at the lower end of the flight feathers at the 

 same time there have been few better wings shown in this 

 country, and Mr. Bell has a right to feel proud of this speci- 

 men, both as to color of wings and tail. 



In Fig. 2 (this page) is shown the wing of a male bird 

 owned by Mr. B. F. Hislop. He is a grand specimen, both 

 as to color and shape. The writer has had the pleasure of 



better understood by the average fancier than the wing, not 

 as regards breeding, but in regard to discounts and what 

 really constitutes perfect color. In shape the standard 

 says, "rather long." This is not a good description. In our 

 opinion it should read, 'rather long and well spread," as 

 a pinched tail on a turkey spoils the beauty of the specimen, 

 no matter how finely colored it may be, while a well spread 

 tail carries with it the complete curve of the back and shows 

 off to advantage the fancy color in the coverts. 



We again call attention to Fig. 1 and ask that the reader 

 study the markings as illustrated by Mr. Sewell, not alone in 

 the tail proper, but in the tail coverts as well. The standard 

 says, in description of the color of the tail proper, "each 

 feather irregularly penciled with narrow band of light brown 

 and ending in a broad black band with a wide edging of 

 white or gray, white preferred." We do not quite like this 

 wording, at the same time we hardly know how to make it 

 any plainer to the amateur, except in the description of the 

 end of the feather. The standard says, "white or gray, white 

 preferred." I would suggest to the amateur that he make his 

 standard read "white," as gray is not the correct color and 



