. Birds and their ways; . birds are said to be verynumerous. The children would have liked to hearmore about peacocks, but Miss Harsonassured them that she had given them all THE TURKEY. 183 the information she could find, as thesebirds were very much like some peoplewho had little besides their looks to recom-mend them. The next scraper/ continued the gov-erness, is the turkey, a bird with whichwe are pretty wellacquainted — in acooked state, atleast. But what weshall learn is chieflyabout the wild tur- -5key, from which our ^tame turkeys wereoriginally descended. This bird is a nativeof the
. Birds and their ways; . birds are said to be verynumerous. The children would have liked to hearmore about peacocks, but Miss Harsonassured them that she had given them all THE TURKEY. 183 the information she could find, as thesebirds were very much like some peoplewho had little besides their looks to recom-mend them. The next scraper/ continued the gov-erness, is the turkey, a bird with whichwe are pretty wellacquainted — in acooked state, atleast. But what weshall learn is chieflyabout the wild tur- -5key, from which our ^tame turkeys wereoriginally descended. This bird is a nativeof the New World; it abounded in NorthAmerica when Europeans came here. Ithas been driven farther and farther to thewest as population has advanced. In their native woods turkeys are muchlarger than when in a state of domesticcaptivity. They are more beautiful, too,their feathers being a dark gray borderedat the edges writh a bright gold color. ■ If the common cock/ it is said, is themost useful bird in our poultry-yard, the. THE TURKEY. 184 BIRDS AND THEIR WAYS. turkey is the most remarkable, as well forthe beauty of the tail as for the singularappearance of the head, and for those hab-its which are almost peculiar to itself/ Thedomestic bird appears to be stupid, vainand quarrelsome; and every one knowshow angry a turkey-cock will get at thesight of anything red. He is a great bully,too, and seems to delight in frighteningchildren and any animal that will run fromhim; but, like other bullies, he is weak andcowardly when boldly faced even by smalleranimals. Some one writes of the wild turkeys:1 Though, on the whole, friendly and socia-ble birds, and fond of traveling togetherin flocks, a good deal of severe disciplineis exercised by the old birds, particularlythe males, who seem to rule over the juniorswith a very strong hand. The young males—called gobblers—are compelled to liveby themselves; for if they venture to ap-proach their seniors, they are sure of beingseverely puni
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1883
