MELE 
Naturalifts have reckoned twenty-eight quills in each 
•tving, and eighteen in the tail. But what is much more 
ftriking, and what will readily diftinguilh this fpecies 
from any other yet known, is a lock of hard black hair, 
five or fix inches long, which, in our temperate climates, 
rifes from the lower part of the neck in the grown male 
turkey in the fecond year, and fometimes about the end 
of the firft; and, before it appears, the place where it 
emerges is marked by a flelhy prominence. .Linnteus lays, 
that this hair does not Ibrout till the third year in the 
turkeys bred in Sweden. If the faft be certain, it would 
follow that this production is the flower in proportion to 
the rigour of the climate: and indeed one of the princi¬ 
pal effects of cold is, to check every fort of growth. This 
lock of hair is the foundation of the epithet of bearded, 
(pedore barbato,) which has been applied to the turkey. 
The turkey-cock has, in fact, like the peacock, two 
tails, an upper and an under one. The firft confifts of 
eighteen broad feathers inferted round the rump, and 
which are erected when the bird ltruts about; the fecond, 
or lower one, are formed of others which are not fo broad, 
and remains always in a horizontal pofition. The male 
is alfo diftinguilhed by a fpur on each foot, which is of 
Various lengths, but always Ihorter and fofter than in 
common cocks. In the female, not only the fpurs, and 
the lock of hair hanging from the lower part of the neck, 
are wanting, but alio the conical caruncle is Ihorter, and 
admits of no extenfion; both this caruncle and the glan- 
dulous flelh that (heaths the head, are of a paler red; (lie 
is fmaller alfo, and has lefs expreflion, lefs refolution, and 
lefs vigour of aftion ; her cry is only a plaintive accent} 
fhe never ftirs but to feek food or to fly before danger: 
finally, flie cannot perform the ftrutting evolutions, not 
becaufe (he has not the double tail of the male, but on 
account of the want of the elevator mufcles which erecft 
the very large feathers that compofe the upper fan. In 
the male, as in the female, the noftrils are fituated in the 
upper mandible; the ears are placed behind the eyes, 
thickly covered, and, as it were, darkened by a multitude 
of little divided feathers, pointed in different direftions. 
It will readily be fuppofed, that the belt cock is the 
ftrongelt, the livelielt, and the molt vigorous in all his 
movements. Five or fix females may be entrufted to his 
care. If there are feveral males, they will fight, but not 
with the furious obftinacy of the game-cock; for thefe 
will even attack turkeys, which are double their fize, and 
fometimes kill them in the combat. Turkeys perform 
copulation nearly in the fame way as ordinary cocks, only 
it lafts longer. Hence, perhaps, the reafon that the male 
is not equal to fo many females, and is fooner worn out. 
According to Sperling, he fometimes mixes with common 
liens ; the fame author afferts, that, when his females are 
taken from him, he not only couples with the pea-hen 
(which may happen), but alfo with the duck (which 
ieems to be lefs probable). 
Turkeys are a fort of farm-ftock that can only be kept 
with advantage in diftricts where grain is the predominant 
article of cultivation. There are two varieties of thefe 
birds in this country, the black and the fpeckled forts; 
the former of which is, in general, the larger and more 
hardy. It is found that they are birds that profper very 
well in open countries, where there is not much Ihelter 
to harbour vermin to deftroy them: for they are naturally 
inclined to ramble. The hens, likewife, are fo negligent 
of their young, that, whilft they have one to follow them, 
they never take any care of the reft; and therefore there 
mull be a great deal of care taken of them whilft they are 
young, to watch them, and to keep them warm, as being 
birds that cannot bear the cold. But fome, where they 
have the conveniency of a fmall cover near the houfe, let 
them take their liberty, and feek their own nefts ; but it 
is only in particular places that they do well with fuch 
management. It is obferved, that a gentleman had a 
hen turkey of the wild kind from Virginia, from which, 
3,nd an Englilh cock, he railed a very fine breed, much 
A G R I S. 5l 
larger than the common, and reared their young ones 
without any care or trouble, breeding much better than 
the Englilh forts. Where they are kept with corn, they 
are very great feeders, and devour a great deal; but if 
left to their liberty when grown up, they nearly get their 
own living, by feeding on herbs, feeds, See. 
Turkeys are very apt to ftraggle, often laying their eggs 
in fecret places; and therefore mult be watched, and made 
to lay at home. They begin to lay in March, and will 
fit in April. Eleven or thirteen eggs are the molt they 
fit on. They hatch in between twenty-five and thirty 
days; and when they have hatched their brood they mult 
be carefully kept warm, for the lead cold kills them. They 
may be fed either with curds, or frelh cheefe chopped in 
fmall pieces with onions or leeks; and their drink may be 
new milk or milk and water. Some give them oatmeal 
and milk boiled thick together, into which they put 
onions or leeks chopped (mail, and fometimes eggs boiled 
hard, and cut in little pieces. They muft be fed often, 
as the hen will not take much care of them; and, when 
they have got fome ftrength, be fed abroad in a clofe 
walled place, where they cannot ftray; not letting them 
out till the dew is off the grafs, and taking care to have 
them in again before the night, becaufe the dew is very 
prejudicial to them. 
It is noticed that thefe birds, when young, may be fat¬ 
tened with great expedition by means of boiled potatoes 
and good barley-meal, mixed well together with chopped 
onions or leeks, if they be kept fed in a regular manner. 
The writer of Pradtical Agriculture fays, that the practice 
of cramming them is a piece of ftupid and unneceffary 
cruelty, as it is evident they can only fatten in proportion 
to the quantity of food which is digefied, whatever quan¬ 
tity may be forced upon them ; belides, they will conl'ume 
it fall enough if regularly fed; which is probably the faft, 
however cuftom may have fan&ioned fuch a method of 
fattening them. The author of the original Report of 
Norfolk thinks, that the finenefs of the flavour in the Nor¬ 
folk turkeys depends on the drynefs of the loil in that 
diftrift, and the extenfivenefs of the range, which they are 
fuffered to poflefs while in their young growth. The dif¬ 
ference between the living and dead weight of a turkey, 
is thus ftated by Mr. Young: live weight 21 lb. dead 
weight 141b. The farmers in many diftritts of the coun¬ 
try are prevented from the railing and keeping birds of 
this kind, on account of the great mifehief which they 
do to the different fort's of fielcl-crops. They are/how¬ 
ever, fine farm-yard birds, wherever they can be kept 
with propriety. 
The flefn of the wild turkey is faid to be fuperior' in 
goodnefs to the tame, but redder. Eggs of the former 
have been taken from the neft, and hatched under tame 
turkeys. The young will ftill prove wild, perch feparate, 
yet mix and breed together in the lealon. The Indians 
fometimes ufe the breed produced from the wild as decoy- 
birds to feduce thofe in a ftate of nature within their 
reach. When difturbed, they do not take wing, but run 
out of fight. It is ufual to chace them with dogs, when 
they will fly and perch on the next tree. They are fo 
ftupid, or fo infenfible of danger, as not to fly on being 
Ihot at; but the furvivors remain unmoved at the death 
of their companions. Wild turkeys are now become rare 
in the inhabited parts of America, and are only found in 
numbers in the diftant moft unfrequented fpots. The 
Indians make a moft elegant clothing of the feathers. 
They twift the inner webs into a ftrong double thread of 
hemp, or inner bark of the mulberry-tree, and work it 
like matting; it appears very rich and glolfy, and as fine 
as a filk lhag. They alfo make fans of the tail; and the 
French of Louifiana were wont to make umbrellas by the 
junction of four of. the tails.—On the annexed Plate arc 
reprefented the original American turkey, and the Englilh, 
domeftic turkey. 
Wild turkeys preferve a famenefs of colouring; the 
tame, as ufual with domeftic animals, vary. It is needle!* 
