WILD TURKEY.


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 of 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, " Wah pawne zezecah ha go ba;" I am as poor
as a Turkey in
summer.


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