AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.— Washington. 
ORANGE JUDD, A. M., 
fc, CONDUCTING EDITOR. 
Published Weekly by Allen &Oo., No. 189 Water-st. 
I UNDER THE JOINT EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OP 
A B. ALLEN & ORANGE JUDD. 
VOL. XIII.—NO. 14.] 
NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 13, 1854. 
[NEW SERIES.—NO. 66. 
Jar IJroaprctus, (ftmns, &c., 
E^-SEE LAST PAGE.^3 
THE AMERICAN TURKEY- 
From the London Poultry Chronicle. 
A correspondent, “T. R. C. C.”, has writ¬ 
ten to ask if we or any of our correspond¬ 
ents, can give the distinguishing character¬ 
istics of the pure American turkey, especially 
as regards color. We thought it would be 
no difficult matter to commence with the ac¬ 
count given by American poultry writers, and 
consulted “ Miner’s Domestic Poultry Book ” 
accordingly ; but we there find little beyond 
an account of the exciting sport of shooting 
that fine bird, the American wild turkey. In 
speaking of the domesticated kinds, he names 
a variety of colors, just the same as we have 
them. We consulted Dr. Bennett’s, and some 
other American works on poultry, with no 
better success ; and were a little surprised 
to find that Dr. Bennett chiefly contents him¬ 
self with an extract given from Mr. Richard¬ 
son’s hand-book, so well known with us. 
We have written to an American corre¬ 
spondent on the subject, and have little doubt 
that, either in the pages of his journal or by 
letter, he will, within a month, oblige us with 
the intelligence which “T. R. C. C.” re¬ 
quires. 
With the above extract we received from 
the accomplished Editor of that paper the 
following request: 
Monk Barns, Hempstead, London, Eng., 1 
October 25th, 1854. j 
Dear Sir : Will you have the kindness to 
favor me with an account of the points and 
properties of the American turkey, either by 
letter or in the pages of the American Agri¬ 
culturist. One of my correspondents is anx¬ 
ious to know about the wild and also the do¬ 
mesticated kind of the pure American turkey, 
with an exact description of their color, 
shape, size, &c. 
Hoping you will pardon me for thus troub¬ 
ling you, I have the honor to remain, 
Dear sir, yours truly, 
ELIZABETH WATTS, 
Editor of the Poultry Chronicle. 
As we fortunately have the facilities at 
hand, both in the true history of the Ameri¬ 
can turkey in its nomadic state, on our libra¬ 
ry shelves, in the recollections of our inter¬ 
course with the bird itself, and in its domes¬ 
ticated condition % in our own poultry yard, 
together with as fine samples of the com¬ 
mon household turkey as probably exist, we 
cheerfullyjcomply with the request of our 
fair correspondent, as well, also, as to fur¬ 
nish a subject of general interest to oui 
readers. 
The wild turkey of America is still found 
in considerable numbers in the western Uni¬ 
ted States and territories, among the new 
settlements, and in the Canadas. We have 
known it in its natural habits from our boy¬ 
hood. We have put up flocks of them, old, 
with their young, in’the western woods and 
prairies ; driven them before us for miles 
along the bridle-paths among the “ clear¬ 
ings;” chased them away, in winter, from 
the corn-cribs around the log cabin in the 
wilderness ; heard their loud gobbling on a 
sunny spring morning when wooing their 
mates; frightened the sitting female from 
her nest of a score of eggs in the broad oak 
openings—which we took home and hatched 
under the barn-door hen, and reared the 
young chicks to maturity; shot them down 
from high trees in the nutting time of autumn, 
so fat that they would crack open in falling ; 
and, when out of season, eaten of their flesh, 
which was poor, stringy, dry, and tasteless. 
All these we have both done and witnessed, 
“long time ago,” and ever since have held 
an affection and admiration for them beyond 
any other"wild bird that, we ever knew or 
saw. 
From that delightful.Naturalist and truth¬ 
ful Ornithologist, Wilson, we condense the 
following description : 
The male wild turkey, when full grown, is 
nearly four feet in length, and more than five 
in extent. The bill is short and robust, red¬ 
dish, and horn-colored at. its tip. The neck 
is of moderate length and thickness, bearing 
on its inferior portion a pendant facicle of 
black rigid hairs about nine inches long. 
The body is thick, somewhat elongated, and 
covered with long truncated feathers ; these 
are divided into very light fuliginous down 
at the base, beyond which they are dusky ; 
to this dusky portion succeeds a broad, efful¬ 
gent,, metallic band, changing now to copper- 
color or bronze gold, then to violet or purple, 
according to the incidence of light, and at. 
tip is a terminal, narrow velvet black band, 
which does not exist in the feathers of the 
neck and breast; the lower portion of the 
back, and the upper part of the rump, are 
much darker, with less brilliant golden vio¬ 
laceous reflections ; the feathers of the in¬ 
ferior part of the rump have several con¬ 
cealed, narrow, ferruginous, transverse lines, 
then a black band before the broad metallic 
space, which is effulgent coppery ; beyond 
the terminal narrow black band is an unpol¬ 
ished bright bay fringe. The upper tail 
coverts are of a bright bay color, with nu¬ 
merous narrow bars of bright shining green¬ 
ish ; all these coverts are destitute of the 
metallic band, and the greater number have 
not the black subterminal one ; the under 
tail-coverts are blackish, glossed with cop¬ 
pery towards the tip, and at tip are bright 
bay. 
On the wings the smaller and middling 
coverts are colored like the feathers of the 
body ; the greater coverts are copper viola¬ 
ceous, having a black band near the whitish 
tip ; their concealed web is blackish sprink¬ 
led with dull ferruginous. The spurious 
wing, the primary coverts, and the primaries, 
are plain blackish, banded with white, which 
is interrupted by the shaft, and sprinkled with 
blackish; the secondaries have the white 
portion so large, that they may well be de- 
cribed as white, banded with blackish, and 
are, moreover, tinged with ferruginous yel¬ 
low ; this color gradually encroaches on the 
white, and then on the blackish, in propor¬ 
tion as the feathers approach the body, so 
that the tertials are almost entirely of that 
color, being only sprinkled with blackish, 
and having metallic reflections on the inner 
web. 
The tail is ferruginous, mottled with black, 
and craped by numerous narrow undulated 
lines, of the same color, which become con¬ 
fused on the middle feathers ; near the tipis 
a broad black band, then the feathers are 
again mottled for a short distance, and are 
widely tipped with ferruginous yellow.— 
[Cinnamon, we should rather say. —Eds.] 
The legs and feet are strong, and of a red¬ 
dish flesh color, with long, rigid, blunt nails, 
and well adapted for scratching in the earth, 
from which much of its food is obtained. At 
three years he is at maturity, and in full flesh 
and condition ; weight, from twenty to twen¬ 
ty-five pounds, although specimens have 
been found of the weight of thirty pounds, 
and upwards. 
The hen is proportionably smaller than 
the cock, with substantially the same shades 
of plumage, but duller, as with the domesti¬ 
cated females. They usually develop the 
hairy tuft from the breast, in the second year, 
but it is shorter and much thinner than in 
the male. They arrive at maturity at three 
years of age, and their weight is usually from 
nine to twelve pounds avoirdupois. 
To this elaborate, and somewhat technical 
description we will add, that the wild turkey, 
both male and female, is very compactly 
feathered, with a plumage of exceeding bril¬ 
liancy, a more erect bird than the tame one, 
standing somewhat higher on its legs, more 
slender in form, and more graceful in its 
movements and attitudes. The male is less 
addicted to strutting and gobbling,- and the 
female less loquacious. They have a sharp 
suspicious look of the eye, too, like all wild 
things, when suddenly approached. These 
characteristics they retain for generations 
after they become domesticated, together 
with a shyness unknown to the others, and 
a propensity to roam abroad and secrete 
their nests from search. The young are 
prone to hide away on the approach of any 
kind of an intruder ; and if not secured and 
brought to the house with the mother, grow 
wild as they increase in age to such a degree 
as hardly to be brought under control; 
yet, reared with the domestic- turkey, or 
with barn-door fowls, they become tame 
domestic companions of the poultry yard. 
We knew a large flock in Indiana last year 
