New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1882-12-20
The Turkey.

bird. the Hon. David Atwood thus dis.
courses concerning him:-
The turkey is said to have been taken
to England in the early part Of the six
teenth century by one William Strick-
land. lieutenant to Sebastian Cabot; but
the bird degenerated there, rs it does
everywhere else under domestication,
and SO, when the Pilgrim Fathers came
to this country the wild turkey inn
pressed item even more than the '.ly-
ons'' which they frequently heard roar
ing at night. though it somehow hap
pened that they never saw one by day.
In Woods ''New England Prospect"
published at London, in 1854, it is said
of the turkey that
He hath the use of his long legs SO
ready that he can run as fast as Dog
gle. and flye as we'll as goose.''
And that
''Such rs love Turkie hunting must
follow it in winter after a new laine
Snow, when he may follow them by
their tracts"
And it is added that
'These Turkies RENAME all the yeare
long; the price of good Turkie cooke
is foure shillings; and he is well worth
it, for he may be in wei ght forty pound;
Hen two shillings."
The differentiation" as the Darwin
lists would say, between the size of the
turkey and his market price has under
gone sorrowful change within the
last two hundred and fifty years. but he
still holds his rank as the great Ameri-
can fowl, and is worthy to be consid-
cred emphatically the bird of freedom.
He is as untamable as the Indians
themselves, and still retains his fleet
ness OF foot, as manga grass-hopper has
found to his cost. The turkey is as
cunning as the fox or crow, and the hen
never goes to her nest twice by the
same path. No farmers boy, set to
watch the old bird, to find where she
hides her nest in the field. ever yet sue
ceeded in his undertaking. The hen
watches as we'll as he, and goes in I'LL
sorts of misleading directions, and then,
when the youth turns his head for q
moment, 10! the turkey has disappeared,
and the hunt is up for that day. No
search will develop her whereabouts un-
til, after she has laid the large speckled
egg, which is much richer than that of
the hen pure and simple, and good
deal better
ITO put In cake or fry with bacon"
the astute, long-legged bird is discoy-
cred innocently walking along, with her
head tipping cautiously first to one side
and then the other, perhaps in the d.
rection of tho very place she has just
left. The small boy takes revenge by
Sc, rcto ot
and goes home vanquished. Even when
the turkey on hor nest makes that low,
monotonous cry which is called "sing-
ing.' it does not help to discover her
hiding place, for it is as absolutely i'm
possible to guess from whence the voice
comes rs to tell from what quarter one
hears the drumming of q partridge.
Both 81 nds seem to fill the entire air,
and to come from above, below, every
where, and nowhere.
The lid, shy habits of the turkey ap-
pear again when the young ones are
hatched-they have no infantile name
of their own, as goslings, and cygnets,
and ducklings, and chickens have-for
the old one takes her brood, as soon as
they are fairly out of the shell, and, in.
stead of leading them into the barnyard
or near the kitchen door to pick up
grains and crumbs, starts off on tramp
in the fields, and, if allowed to have her
own way, will brood them in q distant
fence-corner and teach them to roost on
forest trees, and will never once bring
them home until the chilly autumn
winds have killed off the army of wan
dering insects, and so reminded the old
lady-turkey of the blessings civilization
has prepared. Then she makes her
way toward the home of her youth,
with following of youngsters las wild
as hawks" and takes lodgings on
fences and apple-trees within easy
reach of the wheat stack and corn-crib.
OF course this turkeyish inclination to
wander is constantly interfered with by
the farmer, and so the turkey is COM
PEELED to lead quasi::domestic life, in
turkey has nevertheless perpetual in.
clination to lapse into barbarism and
regain the liberty of the woods.
The turkey Is bird of aristocratic
disposition, and does no servile work,
and never tries to be useful. The male
struts and gobbles for his own pleasure,
and occasionally he INDUCES in gentle
manly wrestling-match by locking bills
with an antagonist and hanging on till
the question of physical endurance is
settled; but he does not crow in the
morning for the benefit of people who
have no clocks, or for the purpose of
waking mp sleepy maid servants. The
female turkey does not like the plebeian
hen, scratch for q living, or dig for
worms that are underground. She is a
sporting bird that takes her game on
the wing or as it runs. She uses her
legs for purposes of locomotion, and
works with her head instead of her
claws.
The responsibility of the turkey was
clearly recognized by DR.. Franklin, who,
in writing from Paris just after the
close of the Revolutionary War, in ref
erence to some medals that had been
designed for the use of the Society OF
Cincinnati, uses this language:-
"Others object to the bald eagle as
looking too much like the turkey. For
my own part, wish the bald eagle had
not been chosen as the representative
OF our country. The turkey is, in COM
parison, a much more respectable bird,
and withal true original native Of
America. Eagles have been found in
all countries, but the turkey is peculiar
to ours. He is, beside Though little
vain and silly, it is true, but not the
worst emblem for that), bird of cour-
age and would not hesitate to attack a
grenadier of the British Guards who
should presume to invade his farm
yard with red coat on.''
But. after all, the turkey never ap-
pears in his full magnificence until,
headless, footless, featherless, and "roast-
ed to a turn'-howbeit, he is not nova.
days turned at all, or even roasted, but
only baked-he lies upon his back on a