reluctant steps, yet such is the rapidity with which settlements are extended and condensed over the surface of this country, that we may anticipate a day at no distant period, when the hunter will seek the wild turkey in vain.

The wooded parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama, the unsettled portions of the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, the vast expanse of territory north-west of these states, on the Mississippi and Missouri, as far as the forests extend, are more supplied than any other parts of the Union with this valuable game, which forms an important part of the subsistence of the hunter and traveller in the wilderness. It is not probable that the range of this bird extends to, or beyond, the Rocky Mountains. The Mandan Indians, who, a few years. ago, visited the city of Washington, considered the turkey one of the greatest curiosities they had seen, and prepared a skin of one to carry home for exhibition.

In some parts of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, the wild turkey is still common, but less so in the western parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Some, also, are said to exist in the mountainous districts of Sussex county, New Jersey. In New England and Lower Canada, they were formerly very abundant, but as their places of resort became settled and thickly peopled, they retired and sought refuge in the remotest recesses of the interior, until they entirely disappeared.

Thus far has our sketch applied to the general history and description of the wild turkey; and as the tame variety resembles its unreclaimed progenitor, in most of its marked peculiarities, namely, its rambling habits, its manner of roosting, the antipathy of the males to the eggs, often to the young, in the secrecy in which the female prefers to incubate, and in the tenderness of her young, I will next consider the turkey in a domesticated state.

SYNONYMES.-Meleagris gallopavo, of Naturalists; Coq d'Inde, Dindon, of the French; Pavo, of the Spaniards; Truthahn, Calcuttischer Hahn, of the Germans; Turkey, Turkey Cock, of the English and Anglo-Americans.

The domestic turkey can scarcely be said to be divided, like the common fowl, into distinct breeds; although there is considerable variation in color, as well as in size, but no Bantam, or dwarf race exists, unless we except the small, delicate-fleshed turkeys of Hemp

stead Plains, near New York, which often weigh, when dressed, not more than 4 or 5 lbs. The finest and strongest birds are those of a bronzed black, resembling, as closely as possible, the original stock. These are not only reared the most easily, but are generally the largest, and fatten the most rapidly. Some turkeys are of a coppery tint, some of a delicate fawn-color, while others are parti-colored, grey, and white, and some few of a pure snow-white. All of the latter are regarded as inferior to the black, their color indicating something like degeneracy of constitution, if not actual disease. A variety is said to exist in the aviary of Madame Backer, at the Hague, with a topknot springing from the crown of the head, resembling that of the plumed Poland fowls.

To describe the domestic turkey is superfluous; the voice of the male; the changing colors of the skin of the head and neck; his proud strut, with expanded tail and lowered wings, jarring on the ground; his irascibility, which is readily excited by red or scarlet colors, are points with which all who dwell in the country are conversant.

RANGE AND DOMESTIC ACCOMMODATION.

THE adult turkey, it is well known, is extremely hardy, and bears the rigors of our coldest winters with impunity even in the open air; for, during the severest weather, flocks, will frequently roost at night upon the roof of a barn, or the branches of tall trees, preferring such an accommodation to an indoor roost. The impatience of restraint and restlessness of the turkey, render it unfit company for fowls in their dormitory; in fact, the fowl house is altogether an improper place for these large birds, which require open sheds and high perches, and altogether as much freedom as is consistent with their safety.

Although, turkeys will roost even during the winter months on trees, it is by no means recommended that this should be allowed, as the feet of these birds are

apt to become frostbitten from such exposure to the air on the sudden decline of the temperature far below the freezing point. It must be remembered that the domestic turkey, hardy as it is when adult, is not equal in point of endurance to its wild relative breed in the woods and inured to the elements.

Turkeys are fond of wandering about pastures, hedgerows, and the borders of fields; they love to visit turnip fields, where, besides the leaves of the turnips, which they relish, they find insects, snails, slugs, &c., which they greedily devour. In the morning, they should have a good supply of grain, and after their return from their peregrinations another feed; by this plan, not only will the due return home of the flock be insured, but the birds will be kept in good store condition, and ready at any time to be put upon fattening diet. Never let them be in poor condition—this is an axiom in the treatment of all poultry-it is difficult, and takes a long time, to bring a bird into proper condition, which has been previously poorly fed or half starved.

CHOICE OF THE TURKEY COCK.

THE turkey cock should be vigorous, broad in the breast, clean in the legs, with ample wings, and a welldeveloped tail plumage; his eyes should be bright, and the carunculated skin of the neck full, and rapid in its changes of color. Though capable of assuming his legitimate rank among the hens, when a year old, he is not in perfection, (notwithstanding the contrary opinion of some,) until he has attained his third year, and is entering upon his fourth; and he continues in his prime for three or four succeeding years. Thus, for two, three, or four years, or longer, may all the young cocks be devoted to the poulterer, one perhaps of particular beauty being preserved within that space of time for the ornament of the farm yard.

The turkey cocks which are kept for breeding, rather than for the table, "ought not" says Mascall,

"to be passing a yere, or two yeres old-three yeres is the most, and too much-for, being olde, they are so heavy in treading, they wyll commonlye hurt the hennes, in broosing their backes, and treading off their feathers off their backes. And, also, it is not good to keep two cockes in treading time; for one will hinder the other, so that your hennes' egges come to small profite in setting."

"Your turkie cock," says Markham, "should be a bird, large, stout, proud, and majesticall, for, when he walketh dejected, he is never good." According to M. Parmentier, both the cock and hen ought to have short legs, a full shape, and great vivacity and energy in all their actions. For breeding, it is peculiarly necessary that both should be well formed, and in healthy condition.

Turkey cocks are pugnacious and vindictive, and often ill-treat the hens. I have known them to attack children, and have witnessed combats between them and the game cock, in which the latter was more oppressed by the weight of his antagonist than by gladiatorial skill-I have, in fact, seen the bulky hero worsted; he cannot use his spurs with the address exhibited by the game cock, which, moreover, fights with method.

SELECTION OF THE HEN.

THE hen turkey should be dark-colored, like the cock-those with white feathers appearing amidst the black plumage should be rejected; her figure should be plump, and her actions lively and animated. The hen breeds when a year old, or rather in the spring succeeding that in which she herself left the egg; but she is not in her prime until the age of two or three years, and will continue for two or three years more in full constitutional vigor. But whether the breeder prefers to keep a store stock for several years, or a yearly or biennial change, will depend on his views and the general practice of the neighborhood