102 
WILD TURKEY. 
somewhat larger than the males, and have a weaker piping note; 
the males then begin to stand higher on their legs, which are 
stronger than those of the females, and soon exhibit the rudiments 
of spurs. On the approach of the first winter, the young males 
show a rudiment of the beard or fascicle of hairs on the breast, 
consisting of a mere tubercle, and attempt to strut and gobble; the 
second year the hairy tuft is about three inches long; in the third 
the Turkey attains its full stature, although it certainly increases 
in size and beauty for several years longer. In a fine male speci¬ 
men, evidently young, which I obtained in the Philadelphia market, 
the plumage is equally brilliant with that of the finest adult, although 
the frontal caruncle is only one inch in length, the pectoral appen¬ 
dage two inches, and the spur merely rudimental. The concealed 
portion of the plumage on the anterior part of the back is sprinkled 
with pale ferruginous, which disappears as the bird advances in age. 
Females of four years old have their full size and colouring; they 
then possess the pectoral fascicle, four or five inches long, (which, 
according to Mr. Audubon, they exhibit a little in the second year, 
if not barren,) but this fascicle is much thinner than that of the 
male. The barren hens do not obtain this distinction until a very 
advanced age; and, being preferable for the table, the hunters 
single them from the flock, and kill them in preference to the others. 
The female Wild Turkey is more frequently furnished with the 
hairy tuft than the Tame one, and this appendage is gained earlier 
in life. The great number of young hens without it, has no doubt 
given rise to the incorrect assertion of a few writers, that the female 
is always destitute of it. 
The weight of the hen generally averages about nine pounds 
avoirdupois. Mr. Audubon has shot barren hens, in strawberry 
time, weighing thirteen pounds; and he has seen some few so fat 
as to burst open by falling from a tree, after being shot. The male 
Turkeys differ more in bulk and weight: from the accounts I have 
received from various parts of the Union, fifteen or twenty pounds 
