The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-25
HIS LoRDsHrP THE TURKEY.
How the King of the Barnyard At
tained His Prestige With the Epi-

How the King or the Barnyard At
tained His Prestige With the Epi-
cure.
From the New York Mail and Express.
NJ. Brillat Savarin, the French gastron-
omer. in his "Physiologie du Govt" lauds
the turkey above all other fowls. and re-
marks:
THE turkey is the largest, and, if not
the most delicate, certainly the most sa-
vory of all domestic fowls" and he be-
slows high praise, indeed, on a turkey
when truf1ed, says an English exchange.
Presented in this form, the turkey is at
its eliminating point of excellence, and,
as another writer observed, when it
makes its appearance on table all con-
,,ersation should for the moment be sus-
pended. That it is eaten in silence on
some occasions may be inferred from the
following anecdote: A certain judge of
Avignon famous for his love of good liv-
ing. said to a friend one day: We have
lust been dining on superb turkey 1t
was excellent! Stuffed with trufiies to
the very throat-tender, delicate, hlled
with perfume! We left nothing but the
honest How many were there of your
asked his friend. Two" replied the
Judge 1.-The turkey-and myself"
That etymology cannot always be de-
rended on is a fact which the name of the
estimable fowl illustrates. "A name"
saws Button. sis not always a proof, par
ticularly a popular name, applied by I'M
educated persons, nor even a scientific
one sometimes, for learned men are not
free from prejudice" The French word
"Dinde" points directly to an eastern ORR
gin. and French photographers, with
national hardihood coolly call the bird in
question "Poule dInde." East Indian
here as if there were no doubt about 1t,
while the more precise Germans, with
precision which would do them honor If
ii were only accurate, say "kalekutische
Hahn" thus fixing Calicut, on the wes-
tern shore of the Indian peninsula, as it's
The English. without going so far ahead.
content themselves with the wholesale
adoption of a name of a country which
has no connection whatever with the
plumed biped Originally the Spaniards
gave to the turkey the name OF 'PaYon
de las Indias" C'Peacock of the West In
dies'D, and Button agrees that it was then
we'll applied, on account of the manner
in which 1t spreads its tail, but their mod
ern descendants, too indolent to inquire
into what concerns them more nearly
than any other people quietly tell US that
fl is "a domestic fowl brought from Tur-
key" Gave domestica traida de Tur5
Quia'). 1t is true that we are indebted
for most of our traditions to the east, put
this tradition we cannot accept, and Iur-
key, whether in Europe or Asia, has no
more to do with the turkey of the farm
yard and the kitchen than it has with the
potato. The fact is that the BIRD hk e
The esculent, came from the west. 1t IS
indisputably the production OF the new
world and perhaps the most satisfactory
production that has ever reached us from
that quarter of the globe.
The time of the first appearance OF the
turkey in the Eastern hemisphere IS
doubtful. NJ. Brillat Savarin and other
French writers attribute its INTRODUCTION
TO the Jesuits of Paraguay, and the above
named learned gastronomer adduces N
proof of the debt we owe the followers OF
Lydia the fact that in many parts or
France turkeys are called "Jesuits, by
reason of the first brood having been
reared at the large farm belonging TO the
brotherhood named Bourges. rms state
ment is, however, decidedly at variance
with another authenticated by MontIuci
who says that the first turkey ever served
tails of Charles TX "a. D. 1870, VINO ate a
wing of the fowl for his supper. But the
probability is that the Spaniards intro
duced the turkey among us at a mucn ear
lier period, mention being made OF II IN
Europe in the year 1924. The first turkeys
came to Germany in 1884. Let the date,
however, be what it might-whether the
turkey followed in the train Of Cortez or
of Pizarrol-to America we are indebted
for 1t; and there, in its wild state, IN some
parts it stin ranges, it's plumage, as IN
the case of the Honduras turkey (meleag-
er oceIlata) growing more lustrous and
magnificent as the family extends SOUTH
The males. usually termed ''gobblers,"
and no doubt meriting the name, assocl-
ate in parties of from ten to hundred 10
seek their food apart from the 1emaleS,
which either go about singly with their
young or form troops with other hens ana
their families, sometimes to the number
of seventy or eighty. These all avoid the
old males who attack and destroy the
young whenever they can be reiterated
blows on the skull. But all parties travel
in the same direction and on foot, unless
the dog of a hunter or a river on their
line of march compels them to take wing.
When about to cross river they select
the highest emininence, that their hight
may be more sure, and in such position
they sometimes stay for a day or more, as
if in consultation. The males on such
occasions gobble ObStreperouSly strut
ting about with extraordinary Importance,
as If to animate their companions. and
the females and young assume much OF
the pompous air of the males and spread
their tails as they move silently around:
Having mounted at length to the tops Of
the highest trees, the assembled multi
tudes, at the signal note of their leader,
wing their way to the opposite shore.
The old and fat birds, contrary to what
might be expected cross without diff
Guilty, even when the river is a mile in
width; but, even the wings of the young
and meager, and of course those of the
weak, frequently fail them before they
have completed their passage, when in
they drop and are forced to swim for
their lives which they do cleverly enough,
spreading their tails for a support, clos
ing their wings, stretching out ther rect
All do not succeed in such attempts, and
the weaker often perish. The wild tur-
keys feed on all sorts of berries, fruits
and grasses; also beetles, tadpoles, young
frogs and lizards are occasionally found
in their crops When the turkeys have ar
rived at the land of abundance they dis
perse in hocl1s devouring all the mast as
they advance.
The beginning of March is the pairing
time. The sexes roost apart, but at no
great distances, so that when the female
utters call, every male within hearing
responds, rolling note after note in the
most rapid succession, not as when
spreading the tail and strutting near the
nen, but in a voice resembling that of
the tame turkey when he hears any I'M
usual or frequently repeated noise. Where
the turkeys are numerous, the woods,
q from one end to the other, sometimes for
scores of miles, resoand with this voice
Of their wooing, uttered responsibility from
s. their roosting places. This is continued
q the sun. they silently descend from their
s. perches and the males begin to strut for
tne purpose of winning the admiration of