122 
THE TURKEY. 
the average size, and the bird was a remarkably fine 
specimen. The extraordinary accounts of the great 
weight and size of the Wild Turkey have been only 
the licensed tales of travellers, heightened by the 
idea, that a New World must produce every thing on 
a scale proportioned to its extent *. Mr Audubon 
says, that from 15 lb. to 18 lb. may he a fair esti- 
mate of their average weight ; and he only once saw 
one in the Louisville market which weighed 36 lb. : 
the tuft of hair on the breast of this bird measured 
upwards of a foot. Bonaparte confirms this ac- 
count, but says that birds of 30 lb. are not rare, and 
had ascertained the existence of some which weigh- 
ed 40 lb. The male Turkey may be said to be 
adult at the third year though it increases in both 
beauty and weight for some seasons afterwards. 
Upon the approach of the first winter, the bunch 
of hair upon the breast begins to appear: at the 
commencement of the second, it is from three to 
four inches in length, and the caruncules about the 
head and neck have become large, and have as- 
sumed their deep and livid hue ; by the third win- 
ter, all these marks of maturity have nearly reached 
their greatest development. 
The Female which we have represented on our 
Plate II., has been copied from Mr Audubon’s 
* Temminok gives the weight from 20,1b. to 80 lb. Pig, 
et Gall. ii. 379. Clayton, in his Account of Virginia, 501b, 
even 60 lb. 
