WILD TURKEY. 
103 
may be considered a fair statement of their medium weight; but 
birds of thirty pounds are not very rare; and I have ascertained the 
existence of some weighing forty. In relation to those surpassing 
the last mentioned weight, according to the report of authors who 
do not speak from personal observation, I have not been able to find 
any, and am inclined to consider them as fabulous. Mr. Audubon 
informs us, he saw one in the Louisville market that weighed thirty- 
six pounds; the pectoral appendage of this bird measured more 
than a foot in length. Bartram describes a specimen of remark¬ 
able size and beauty, reared from an egg found in the forest, and 
hatched by a common hen: when this Turkey stood erect, the head 
was three feet from the ground. The animal was stately and hand¬ 
some, and did not seem insensible of the admiration he excited. 
Our plate, which is the first that has been given of the Wild 
Turkey, represents both sexes, reduced to one-third of their natural 
size; the male was selected from among many fine specimens, shot 
in the month of April, near Engineer Cantonment, on the Missouri. 
It weighed twenty-two pounds; but, as the males are very thin at 
that season,* when in good order it must have weighed much more. 
Though comparatively recent, the domestic state ol the Turkey 
has been productive of many varieties; we need not, therefore, be 
surprised at the existence of numerous and remarkable differences 
in those animals which have been domesticated from time imme¬ 
morial. The most striking aberration from the standard of the 
species, is certainly the tufted Turkey, which is very rare, the crest 
being white in some specimens, and black in others. Tame Tur¬ 
keys sometimes occur of an immaculate black colour; others are 
exclusively white; some are speckled or variegated; and all these 
varieties are continued by propagation, under analogous circum- 
* The extraordinary leanness of this bird, at particular seasons of the year, has become 
proverbial in many Indian languages. An Omawhaw, who wishes to make known his 
abject poverty, says, “ Wuh pawne zezecah ha go ha I am as poor as a Turkey in 
summer. 
