WILD TURKEY. 
97 
flavour of the other. A gentleman, residing in Westchester county, 
New-York, a few years since procured a young female Wild Tur¬ 
key, 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 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 por¬ 
tion 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 showing the force 
of hereditary disposition. The domesticated young, reared from 
the eggs of the W7Id 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 chick¬ 
ens, 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, roost¬ 
ing 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 apprehen¬ 
sive 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 
VOL. I.-B b 
