4 BULLETIN 467, U..S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
dinde is a corruption of poule d’ Inde or “‘hen of India,’’ and suggests 
that confusion of the East and West Indies may have added to the 
general misunderstanding. Although they speedily became popular 
in Europe and are now used there to a considerable extent, they are 
not so common there as in the United States, where they rank next 
to chickens in importance. 
Turkey flesh resembles that of chicken; it is sometimes described 
as drier and not so full of flavor, but proper care and feeding lessen 
these disadvantages. The proportion of meat to bone is larger in 
turkeys than in chickens, and the fact that their flesh is found in 
larger masses sometimes makes it possible to serve it to better advan- _ 
tage, especially in the form of “left overs;’’ hence, pound for pound, 
turkey is probably utilized more economically than chicken. 
There is little demand for young turkey chicks, which are very 
scrawny and do not bear shipping well. However, in July and 
August growers near fashionable summer resorts can sometimes sell 
“broilers”? weighing from 14 to 4 pounds each at rather fancy prices. 
The general market rarely sees fresh turkeys before September, and 
the season can hardly be said to begin before the last of October. Many 
of the birds are fattened to a very large size (25 to 30 pounds) for the 
Thanksgiving and Christmas trade, but from January until the 
season for fresh turkeys ends, in late February or March, medium- 
sized birds are most abundant and are more suitable for ordinary 
family use. The bulk of our turkey supply now comes from the 
South, Middle West, and Southwest, but up to January native tur- 
keys, often of excellent quality, are found in Eastern markets. 
Practically all the turkeys marketed through the sprmg and summer 
months are cold-storage birds from the great poultry-raising sections. 
GUINEA FOWLS. 
The name of these birds rightly indicates the place of their origin, 
but since they were first found in western Africa by European ex- 
plorers they have been carried to many parts of the world. They 
are more generally bred in Europe than in the United States. In 
the Southern States they are often kept along with the other poul- 
try, and recipes in southern cookery books suggest that the birds 
are commonly used for food in that part of the country, but it is only 
within recent years that guinea fowls have been seen in any quan- 
tity in northern markets. 
Young guinea fowls are sometimes said to resemble partridge in 
flavor, and older birds, pheasants. The flesh on the breast is slightly 
darker than in chicken and has a more gamey flavor. In fact, it is 
this gamey quality which gives them their distinctive value in © 
elaborate menus or among epicures, and to increase it the birds are © 
allowed to hang until just before they begin to “‘turn.’”’ For ordinary | 
