160 TBM COMPLETE POULTHy BOOK. 



Was observed feral by Clarke in Ciroassia, in 1800. At Trebizoned the turkeys 

 abound (Curzon). 



""We see that six varieties are recognized in America. Darwin mentions four 

 in 'England, and a Buff-yellow breed, formerly in Holland, with an ample white 

 topknot; and Mr. Wilmot describes a White turkey cock with a crest. P. 

 Hichaux, in 1802, suspected that the common turkey had not descended from ' 

 one species alone, and even believed that English and French turkeys differed, 

 from having difierent proportions of the two parent forms." 



Prof. Spencer P. Baird, in his work on the birds of North America,, supports 

 the hypothesis that, in addition to the wild species above named, there origin- 

 ally existed another species, which was the original of our domestic bird ; that 

 this species was indigenous to the West India Islands, where it was tamed, and 

 then.transplanted to Mexico, and from thence to Europe in 1520; and that ulti- 

 mately the wild original was exterminated by the natives ; whicb hypothesis 

 would explain the fact of our finding no wild turkeys at the present day which 

 closely resemble the domestic breeds. 



This view, however, is not generally entertained by other naturalistef , Charles 

 Darwin, in referring to it, says : 



"But, besidesthe improbability of a bird having long ago become extinct in 

 these large and luxuriant islands, it appear? that the turkey degenerates in 

 India, and this fact indicates that it was not aboriginally an inhabitant of the 

 lowlands of the tropics." 



The North American wild turkey is thus described by Mr. Elliot:'. 



" When full-grown, the male will measure four feet in length and nearly five 

 feet in the stretch of its wings. The naked skin of the head and neck is blue, 

 with the wattles red, as are also the legs. -The feathers of the neck and body 

 generally are a coppery bronze, changing in some lights to a greenish or pur- 

 plish shade, and margined with an opaque line of velvet black. The back and' 

 rump are also black, and tipped with a light chestnut. Near the end of the tail 

 is a band of black, broadest on the outer feathers, and nai'rowing as it ap- 

 proaches the central ones. Between the bars on the feathers is a confused 

 sprinkling of black. Neither upon the tail or its coverts is there any white, 

 and this is one of the means by which the wild bird can always be distinguished 

 from the domesticated. From the centre of the breast hangs a long, coarse, 

 hairy tuft, sometimes not found in the other sex. The female differs from the 

 male principally in being smaller in size, less brilliant in coloring, and in the 

 absence of' the spur, and of the flesh process at the base of the bill. 



The following interesting account of the habits of the wild turkey was written 

 by Captain Flack, a noted sportsman and traveler: 



" The wild turkey cock is never seen fairly but in the forest. The war-horse 

 described by Job, and the sorriest hack on Hampstead Heath, when his Sunday 

 troubles are over, would scarcely present a greater contrast than does the wUd 

 bird to the tame ; nothing alive shows more points of health and purity of blood 

 than does this fine bird. His clean, game head is fully four feet from the 

 ground, and his bright, haM eyes are full of intelligence and suspicion-so 

 different from the dull expression of the tame bird. His great breadth of 

 shoulder, deep chest, and clean, firm step must strike the most superficial ob- 



