THE TURKEY. 
121 
the more densely peopled parts of theUnited States, 
Wild Turkeys were formerly very abundant ; but, 
like the Indian and the buffalo, they have been com- 
pelled to yield to the destructive ingenuity of the 
white settlers, often wantonly exercised, and take 
refuge in the remotest parts of the interior. Al- 
though they relinquish their native soil with slow 
and reluctant steps, yet such is the rapidity with 
which the settlements are extended and condensed 
over the surface of this country, that we may antici- 
pate a day, at no distant period, when the hunter 
will seek the Wild Turkey in vain." The imperfect 
records of its introduction to Europe may then be 
interesting to future generations. 
A person who has seen the Turkey only in the 
poultry-yards of this country, can have no idea of 
the splendour of a fine cock in his full plumage, pre- 
vious to the breeding-season. His plumage gleams 
with the brightest golden-bronze, tinged, according 
to the position, with blue, violet, and green, and 
beautifully broken by the deep black bands which 
terminate each feather, and which also have a me- 
tallic lustre. The length of the male figured by Mr 
Audubon* was four feet and an inch ; the expanse 
of the ivings five feet eight inches. This is beyond 
* The habits of the Turkey iu a wild state have been so 
well and minutely described by the Prince of Musignano 
and Mr Anduhon, that we could not with propriety intro- 
duce a substitute, and we have therefore adopted the more 
interesting parts of their descriptions. 
