THE WILD TURKEY. 
55 
merely a kind of protuberance in the flesh at this part, while the young 
females of the same age have no such appearance. The second year, the 
males are to be distinguished by the hairy tuft, which is about four inches 
long, whereas in the females that are not barren, it is yet hardly apparent. 
The third year, the male Turkey may be said to be adult, although it 
certainly increases in weight and size for several years more. The females 
at the age of four are in full beauty, and have the pectoral appendage four or 
five inches long, but thinner than in the male. The barren hens do not 
acquire it until they are very old. The experienced hunter knows them at 
once in the flock, and shoots them by preference. The great number of 
young hens destitute of the appendage in question, has doubtless given rise 
to the idea that it is wanting in the female Turkey. 
The long downy double feathers about the thighs and on the lower parts 
of the sides of the Wild Turkey, are often used for making tippets, by the 
wives of our squatters and farmers. These tippets, when properly made, 
are extremely beautiful as well as comfortable. 
A long account of the habits of this remarkable bird has already been 
given in Bonaparte’s American Ornithology, vol. i. As that account was in 
a great measure derived from notes furnished by myself, you need not be 
surprised, good reader, to find it often in accordance with the above. 
I have ascertained that some of these valuable birds are still found in the 
States of New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. In the winter of 
1832-3, I purchased a few fine males in the city of Boston. This species 
is abundant in the wooded portions of Texas, but none have been obsexwed 
either on the Rocky Mountains, or to the westward of them. They are, 
however, becoming less numei'ous in eveiy portion of the United States, 
even in those parts where they were vei’y abundant thirty years ago. My 
friend Dr. Bachman assures me, that in a state of domestication, the Wild 
Turkeys, though kept separate from tame individuals, lose the brilliancy of 
their plumage in the third generation, becoming plain brown, and having 
here and there white feathers intermixed. The eggs measure 2 inches 7 
eighths in length, by 2 inches in bi'eadth, and are rather pointed ; their 
ground-colour is a uniform pale yellowish tint, and mai'ked all over with 
pale rusty brown spots and dots. I found this species pretty abundant on 
James river in Virginia, as well as in the mai’ket of Washington city, 
where, in the winter of 1836-7, they sold at the low price of seventy -five 
cents apiece. 
Meleagris Gallopavo, Bonap. Syn., p. 122. 
Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo , Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 79. 
Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo , Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 630. 
Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 1,33; vol. v. p. 599 
