THE TURKEY. 
137 
“ In proportion to the abundance or scarcity of 
food, and its good or bad quality, they are small or 
large, meagre or fat, and of an excellent or indiffe- 
rent flavour; in general, however, their flesh is more 
delicate, more succulent, and better tasted than 
that of the tame turkey : they are in the best order 
late in the autumn, or in the beginning of winter. 
The Indians value this food so highly when roasted, 
that they call it ‘ the white mail’s dish,’ and present 
it to strangers as the best they can offer. 
“ The Indians make much use of their tails as 
fans ; the women weave their feathers with much art 
on a loose web made of the rind of the birch-tree, ar- 
ranging them so as to keep the down on the inside, 
and exhibit the brilliant surface to the eye. A spe- 
cimen of this cloth is in the Philadelphia Museum ; 
it was found enveloping the body of an Indian fe- 
male, in the great Saltpetre cave of Kentucky.” 
We have already mentioned, that the turkey, in 
a domesticated state, has been distributed to al- 
most every part of the civilized world ; but, con- 
trary to the general effect of domestication, it has 
rather deteriorated than improved in that state. 
“ So far from having gained by the care of man, anil 
the abundance of food accessible in its state of do- 
mestication, tliis bird has degenerated, not only in 
Europe and Asia, but, which is certainly extraordi- 
nary, even in its native country. The domesticated 
turkey of America, accustomed as it is to roam in 
the woods and open fields almost without restraint, 
