THE TURKEY. 
123 
beautiful Illustrations ; and vve have to ask his for- 
giveness for having done so without previously ob- 
taining his permission. The average weight of a 
hen is about 9 lb. ; but in strawberry time they 
sometimes reach 131b. and are so fat as to burst 
open when falling, after being shot. In length, the 
female is only about 3 feet 4 inches. The head 
and neck are not so naked, and there is no trace 
of spurs upon the legs. The general shade of the 
plumage is of a grayer tint, each feather having a 
metallic hand, less brilliant than that of the male, 
and is then tipped with a blackish bar, and a grayish 
terminal fringe. 
We shall now introduce the account of their 
manners Iron the Prince of Musignano’s continua- 
tion. 
“ The males, usually termed gobblers, associate in 
parties, numbering from ten to a hundred, and seek 
their food apart from the females ; whilst the latter 
either move about singly with then - young, then 
nearly two-thirds grown, or, in company with other 
females and their families, form troops, sometimes 
consisting of seventy or eighty individuals, all of 
which are intent on avoiding the old males, who, 
whenever opportunity offers, attack and destroy the 
young, by repeated blows on the skull. All parties, 
however, travel in the same direction, and on foot 
unless they are compelled to seek their individua 
safety by flying from the hunter’s dog, or their march 
is impeded by a large river. When about to cross 
