March 19, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
451 
of the inclosure it was a simple matter to re¬ 
move the domestic turkeys. 
All through the winter food was supplied in 
abundance and of a character which closely ap¬ 
proximated the natural forage of the birds—per¬ 
simmons, wild berries, acorns, corn, wheat and 
oats, with a liberal supply of “grit” (sand and 
gravel) from a neighboring branch. Natural 
conditions of undergrowth were maintained as 
closely as possible within the inclosure. Aside 
from feeding and the providing of a constant 
supply of fresh water, the birds were given no 
attention. 
Spring found them in splendid shape, and 
strangely enough on his return in the late spring 
they seemed to recognize their owner. 
The wisdom of preserving natural conditions 
within the inclosure was soon apparent. The 
wild “Tom” is a polygamist of the first water, 
and the four hen birds soon began to make their 
nests in the close shelter of the luxuriant growth 
of wild honeysuckle. 
With the hatching of the chicks a notable 
change occurred in the behavior of the mother 
birds. They appeared to revert to wildness, dis¬ 
playing in particular a strongly developed pro¬ 
tective instinct—shown by attacking strangers. 
All who are familiar with the Southern woods 
have noted the difference between the food call 
and the alarm note of the hen bird. Prof. Blan¬ 
ton’s approach, which had always been greeted 
with the food call, now called forth the note of 
alarm. Moreover, the birds, instead of coming 
to him for food, now evinced great uneasiness 
at his approach. 
It was soon apparent that little progress in 
domestication would be made if the fledglings 
were left in the charge of their natural mothers, 
even if the gain of the preceding summer were 
not entirely lost. 
Accordingly the little turkeys were taken from 
their mothers and added to the broods of some 
of the gentlest of the bronze turkeys. The first 
year’s hatch was forty; birds, and of this num¬ 
ber thirty-eight were brought to maturity, two 
being killed by accidents. The entire hatch was 
entirely free from the ordinary diseases of the 
domestic turkey. 
The same methods of handling were followed 
as in the preceding year. When the young birds 
had obtained a fair growth, the five original were 
released from the inclosure and allowed to join 
the flock, wandered free all winter and were 
again brought into the inclosure at the approach 
of spring. They were once more absolutely tame 
and showed no tendency to go back to their 
natural condition. As for the new hatch they 
were no wilder than the young bronze turkeys. 
This year the commercial possibilities of the 
venture came- to the fore. Hen turkeys were 
sold for $10 and upward, while eggs brought $1 
each. 
The experiences of this year were repeated the 
following season. The birds were absolutely 
tame, except during the mating and nesting sea¬ 
sons, and continued to be absolutely immune to 
disease, although the bronze turkeys were almost 
wiped out of existence all through Virginia 
through various diseases largely incidental to 
the extraordinarily wet season. 
The enclosure was ultimately increased in size 
until a full acre was given up to the birds. The 
natural conditions of the turkey haunts were 
closely maintained, and abundant food supplied 
of the same character as that found in the 
natural covers. 
To sum up, the experiments conducted by 
Prof. Blanton have shown that with reasonable 
care wild turkeys may easily be domesticated, 
that the venture has splendid commercial possi¬ 
bilities, especially keeping in mind the desirability 
of strengthening the weakened domestic stock 
by crossing with the virile wild birds, that the 
expense is small, and that the market both for 
domestic purposes and for stocking depleted 
coverts is always large. 
The experiments have been successful from 
the beginning and continue to be so, and whole¬ 
some start has been made in the domestication 
of this splendid bird. 
Feeding the Birds. 
Utica, N. Y., March 5 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: When we began to feed our bluejays 
in January there were four of them, but at the 
end of March the flock had increased to thirteen. 
CANADA JAY. 
We recognized the newcomers by their timid¬ 
ity. Often they would alight a yard away from 
the corn and hop up to it sidewise, just as one 
sometimes sees a dog run along at an angle. The 
bluejays chose the largest kernels first, filled their 
throats and flew away to swallow it. The 
amount which they took into their throats at a 
time was rather astonishing. Their throats would 
stick out much as the filled pouches in the cheeks 
of a chipmunk, and when they got their throats 
filled they proceeded to do acrobatic feats to get 
all they could in their bills. When a kernel slip¬ 
ped from the beak, the bluejay would follow it 
two or three feet through the scattered corn, de¬ 
termined to get the particular kernel that had 
slipped away. Often the kernel would fly sev¬ 
eral inches into the air, but nearly every time the 
jay caught it before it reached the ground. The 
corn was small sweet corn and some of it was 
broken. One bird took twenty-four pieces for 
a mouthful, another twenty, another twenty-seven 
and at another time forty-three kernels and pieces 
were taken. 
Like the others this bird held his head up for 
a moment to get a good hold on the mouthful. 
He flew away with his throat puffed out and his 
bill pried open. Sometimes a jay filled his throat 
so full that he disgorged it and had to start over. 
The birds came close to the house and actually 
ate suet from the window sill, hence it was easy 
to photograph them. The camera was placed 
just outside the door, a little popcorn was 
put about a yard away and a thread was tied to 
the camera shutter. For a half hour the jays 
were timid, but they soon became used to the 
strange object. It was then only necessary to 
watch them through the window and pull the 
thread when a jay was in position. 
Eldridge A. Spears. 
The Reindeer Experiment. 
St. John’s, N. F., March 4 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: As the months pass and wider experi¬ 
ence is gained in the management, Dr. Grenfell’s 
success in transplanting the reindeer is noted 
with increasing interest. The doctor appears to 
have a special faculty for attracting skilled 
volunteers to assist him in his work. For several 
years past he has had expert medical men, spe¬ 
cialists in their professions in large American 
cities, who gave their time and knowledge and 
experience for the benefit of the fishermen on 
the Labrador coast absolutely free and without 
payment of any kind. Some of these if .con¬ 
sulted in their own surgeries would charge hun¬ 
dreds of dollars for a consultation, but the fisher¬ 
men get the benefit of their skill without fee. 
This year he has several American students 
from the large universities who are helping to 
train and break his reindeer herds for draft pur¬ 
poses. No doubt, now that a systematic effort is 
being made in this direction, success will crown 
his efforts. He has begun already to talk about 
exporting venison, thereby creating a very re¬ 
munerative industry for a section of the country 
that, outside its. fishery interests, has very few 
resources. His estimate for the near future is 
very modest, but he has already begun to think 
and talk in millions, and his success to date war¬ 
rants him in so doing. I give herewith an ex¬ 
tract from his last letter on the subject that will 
give your readers a good idea of the progress 
of the experiment: 
“The multiplication of the reindeer makes us 
very enthusiastic with regard to their future. 
This next year we are moving part of our herd 
to Labrador, where the natural food for these 
animals is endless. If Labrador were of no 
value for any other purpose, it could maintain 
with great ease one and one-half million of these 
beasts if they were protected and not slaugh¬ 
tered by the Indians, wolves and settlers indis¬ 
criminately as the caribou are. A regular export 
of from two to three thousand carcasses would 
bring much money into the region. ^ _ 
“We have not tried the deer yet for a rapid 
transit. Some students, down with me this win¬ 
ter, are hoping to break some of the stags with 
this in view. But we met with considerable 
success with the hauling of logs over snow that 
could not carry horses. Further acquaintam e 
with the land round Grand Falls, makes me be¬ 
lieve that the caribou themselves do not remain 
