WILD TURKEY. 
181 
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 manage- 
ment, 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 
returned 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 preserve a portion of their uncivilized nature, 
and exhibit some knowledge of the difference between 
themselves and their foster mother, roosting apart from 
the tame ones, and in other respects shewing the force 
of hereditary disposition. The domesticated 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 sufficiently tame 
to feed with his tame turkeys, and generally associate 
with them, yet they always retained some of their 
original propensities, roosting by themselves, and higher 
than the tame birds, generally on the top of some tree, 
or of the house. They were also more readily alarmed ; 
on the approach of a dog, they would fly off, and seek 
safety in the nearest woods. On an occasion of this 
kind, one of them flew across the Susquehanna, and 
the owner was apprehensive of losing it; in order to 
recover it, he sent a boy with a tame turkey, which 
was released at the place where the fugitive had 
alighted. This plan was successful; they soon joined 
company, and the tame bird induced his companion to 
return home. Mr Bloom remarked, that the wild 
turkey will thrive more, and keep in better condition, 
than the tame, on the same quantity of food. 
Besides the above mentioned half breed, some 
domesticated turkeys, of a very superior metallic tint, 
are sold in the Philadelphia and New York markets as 
