92 
WILD TURKEY. 
and thence into the enclosure, where a sufficient quantity of corn 
is spread to occupy the leader until the greater part of the Turkeys 
have entered. When they raise their heads and discover that they 
are prisoners, all their exertions to escape are directed upwards 
and against the sides of the pen, not having sagacity enough to 
stoop sufficiently low to pass out by the way they entered; and 
thus they become an easy prey, not only to the experienced hunter, 
but even to the boys on the frontier settlements. 
In proportion to the abundance or scarcity of food, and its good 
or bad quality, they are small or large, meagre or fat, and of an 
excellent or indifferent flavour: in general, however, their flesh is 
more delicate, more succulent, and better tasted, than that of the 
Tame Turkey: they are in the best order late in the autumn, or 
in the beginning of winter. The Indians value this food so highly, 
when roasted, that they call it “the white man’s dish,” and present 
it to strangers as the best they can offer. It seems probable, that 
in Mexico the Wild Turkey cannot obtain such substantial food as 
in the United States, since Hernandez informs us that their flesh 
is harder, and, in all respects, inferior to that of the domestic bird. 
The Indians make much use of their tails as fans; the women 
weave their feathers with much art, on a loose web made of the 
rind of the Birch tree, arranging them so as to keep the down on 
the inside, and exhibit the brilliant surface to the eye. A specimen 
of this cloth is in the Philadelphia Museum; it was found envel¬ 
oping the body of an Indian female, in the great Saltpetre cave of 
Kentucky. 
Among the benefits conferred by America on the rest of the 
world, the gift of this noble bird should occupy a distinguished 
place, as unquestionably one of the most useful of the feathered 
tribe, being capable of ministering largely to the sustenance and 
comfort of the human race. Though the Turkey is surpassed in 
external beauty by the magnificent Peacock, its flesh is greatly 
superior in excellence, standing almost unrivalled for delicacy of 
