354 
WILD TURKEY. 
ones from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and Sussex coun- 
ty, New Jersey, that were said to be a cross-breed between 
the wild cock and tame hen. This crossing often occurs in 
countries where wild and tame turkeys are found ; it is well 
known that they will readily approach each other ; and such is 
the influence of slavery even upon the turkey, that the robust 
inhabitant of the forest will drive his degenerate kinsfolk from 
their own food, and from their females, being generally wel- 
comed by the latter and by their owners, who well know the 
advantages of such a connexion. The produce of this com- 
mixture is much esteemed by epicures, uniting the luscious 
obesity of the one, with the wild flavour of the other. A gen- 
tleman, residing in Westchester county, New York, a few 
years since procured a young female wild turkey, in order to 
make the experiment of crossing the breed; but, owing to 
some circumstance, it did not succeed, and in the ensuing 
spring this female disappeared. In the following autumn she 
returned, followed by a large brood ; these were quite shy, but, 
by a little management, they were secured in a coop, and the 
mother allowed her liberty. She remained on the farm until 
the succeeding spring, when she again disappeared, and re- 
turned in autumn with another brood. This course she has 
repeated for several successive years. 
Eggs of the wild turkey have been frequently taken from 
their nests, and hatched under the tame hen ; the young pre- 
serve a portion of their uncivilized nature, and exhibit some 
knowledge of the difference between themselves and their fos- 
ter mother, roosting apart from the tame ones, and in other 
respects showing the force of hereditary disposition. The do- 
mesticated young, reared from the eggs of the wild turkey, are 
often employed as decoy birds to those in a state of nature. 
Mr William Bloom, of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, caught five 
or six wild turkeys, when quite chickens, and succeeded in 
rearing them. Although sufiiciently tame to feed with his 
tame turkeys, and generally associate with them, yet they al- 
ways retained some of their original propensities, roosting by 
themselves, and higher than the tame birds, generally on the 
