Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-09
THANKsGIVl1ING'TURKE
RAISING THE FOWLS A PRINCI-
PAL OCCUPATION.
Requires Patience ana "Fussing,"
Hence is RELOCATED to Womankind
"A Cunning Bird.

ner has been one of the principal occupa-
lions of the good housewives on the farms
In the neighborhood of Washington. and 1t
has been quite an undertaking" said X. s.
Rawlins of Culpeper, Va, at the Metropoli-
tan this morning.
ITO raise turkeys successfully requires
much patience and fussng' and. therefore.
1t Is considered an eliminate enterprise by
many men, and is consequently relegated
to their womankind.
Turkeys are more self-supporting than
chickens and, while they do not lay eggs In
sufficient quantities for marketing, weigh
ing heavier they are perhaps more profita-
BILE in the long run than any other poultry.
Their sale brings in convenient sum OF
money with which to buy winter supplies
and clothes. Perhaps the general raising Of
our national bird explains why 1t is not
seen as distinct enterprise more often.
1.-The turkey is certainly the most singular
fowl have ever had TO deal with. No mat
ter how much gadding about the neighbor-
hood 1t does during the summer. when
Thanksgiving time draws near it comes
home to stay.
Whether or not that fowl Is willing
secrifice to the god of holiday appetites re-
mains for speculation. In spring a hen
turkeys fancy lightly turns to thoughts Of
laying eggs and raising young. Some day
she Is missed from the farmyard. and In
dering off through the pasture in the direc
ton of the woods. Forthwith the farmers
children go in quest of the nest that they
know she has cunningly hidden in some Sc
cluded place.
Down along the rail fence where the
weeds grow rank the children go calling
Turk Turk! Turk and peering into the
brambie brake.
''The old hen hears their CALL and we'll
she knows they are looking for her nest,
and she does not want its whereabouts
known. lest her eggs be stolen. But she
can keep a secret. Silent and uncommuni-
alive she remains while the children hunt
and hunt Finally the children almost
stumble over the old turkey sitting on her
nest, for she has hidden it among grayish
weeds end grass, the color of her own
feathers, with the natural instinct for pro-
tective Coloration.
"a fond, proud mother she makes when
her little ones come from their shells, even
If her children, with their lanky necks and
legs and scrawny bodies, are as hOmely as
the ugly ducklng.' She is self-important.
too. and considers herself wholly capable
of supporting and raising her family. Con-
sequent1y. unless her owner interferes and
persists in driving her daily to the house.
she Is apt to forsake her former stamping
ground about the farm yard and trail her
family through the fields where bugs are
plentiful, meanwhile keeping near to some
spring or stream for turkeys never wander
far from water.
The Mother Hen.
"With a gentle 'chew-ul the mother calls
her young to follow her. She is always on
the alert for any sign of danger, and keeps
her head bobbing up in a suspicious way
as she looks to see that the coast Is clear,
for hawks, foxes and skunks, her worst
foes. may be lurking anywhere about. Dan
ger in sight, she cries, Quit! quit! Guit!,
warning chirpS, and in a flash her children
scuttle into weeds and tall grass and try
to lose themselves to sight. A turkey will
fight until death for her young, and with
courage worthy of David will attack
foe of any size, even a dog or COW.
1.-The male turkey the patrfarchal COB
bier. sometimes takes 1T upon himself to
Set and, following that, to train up a
family in the way it should go while his
wife lays another lot of eggs
when their broods old enough to
distinguish each its own mothers calls so
that the families will not become mixed
friendships between the two hen turkeys
not uncommon. They will come to-
ding and gossiping about the farmyard on
most amicable terms. Whereas two
mother turkeys never mix their brood. A
turkey will adopt orphan young into her
family and treat them in really maternal
way.
Turkeys will sometimes wander two
miles from home and can fly far and high
when frightened. If Matched and raised
by hens they are less wild and more in
clined to stay about the farmyard than
when raised by their own parents.
Turkeys military birds. In watch
ing a flock of them for time one will
often see them going through some kind
of drill that might pass for dress pa
step for little way, then right about
face and march back. making a fine show
ing Close in its footsteps another and
another will follow"