SOCIAL RELATIONS — NESTING 117 



Texas, which was covered with precisely the same 

 bronze feathers that distinguish the gobbler — 

 the same thick, velvety black satin breast, and 

 the same beautifully decorated neck and head, 

 except the white turban cap of the gobbler. She 

 had a five-inch beard and looked in every way 

 like a gobbler, except being smaller in size. She 

 weighed twelve pounds and had the form of the 

 hen, the legs of a hen, and was a hen, but the 

 most gaudy and beautiful specimen I ever saw. 

 Possibly this was a barren hen, as she had all 

 the visible characteristics of the male, but she 

 did not gobble, she yelped. 



The parasite which troubles the turkey is 

 much larger than those which infest chickens. 

 It is yellow in color and crawls rapidly. Tur- 

 keys have a habit of rolling themselves in dust 

 and ashes to remove vermin from the skin and 

 feathers; but I believe a bath of dry wood ashes, 

 where an old log or stump has been burned, is 

 preferred by them on account of the cleansing 

 effect of the ashes. 



When the young turkeys are four or five 

 months old they are fairly independent of their 



