The Nevada County picayune., 1906-11-30
When Turkey Reigns
 as Royal Sacrifice.
In Antiquity and American Lineage the Bird Takes Precedence in
 Western Continent.

When Thanksgiving day comes and families gather around the feast of which the turkey reigns as royal sac rifice, 1t is the hour to win opinion re- gardng the American national bird.
 Long has the eagle scared and screamed and Tapped it's wings, but no day of regard has been put in it's honor in the calendar.
 When it comes to antiquity and a true American lineage the turkey takes precedence. Patriotic societies are finding this out, and committees are considering the advisability of making a place for the bird among na- tional emblems. The eagle is a cos mopolitan, the bird of love; the tur- key-genus meleagris-belongs to the western continent.
 The sacrifice on the altar of thanks giving is species distinct from winged and feathered fowl of dis tant relationship found in Europe. Like the American Indian, it has ab- original traits, and Inspired by the spirit of the west and an intense love for freedom, refuses the condning restraints of civilization.
 The American turkey was among the strange birds discovered by the Spaniards when they invaded Mexico. Oyiedo describes 1t about 1527 as do- mesticated among the christlanized Indians of New Spain (Mexico), and being the bird reserved for festivals, Gay describes the gallopayo sylvestris the wild turkey of New England as the wonder of the pilgrim fathers, and from all this data 1t will be seen that the turkey has claim to na- tional tribute.
 Virginia and Missouri historians write of turkey fowls as peculiar to their wooded hiils, but Rhode Island has laid an official claim to the best bred stock that goes abroad. Little Rhody bases it's traditions on the GUS toms of the Narragansett Indians, a tribe which once ruled the entire New England area, but became extinct dur Ing King Philips war.
 The Narragansetts treasured tne turkey as sacred bird after their days the Nianties took the matter up both for the cause of religion and for the comfort of their stomachs and thus preserved the species from ex- tinction and brought the Rhode Island fame high on the marts that cater to feasts and festivals.
 The Rhode Island turkey lives in the hills, feasts on insects and herbs to epicures and has become desired from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The white turkey comes from the confines of the state and for some years the presidential Thanksgiving dinner has been presided over by an immense bird of the New England stock
 As the Indian and the native GUS toms even of Mistress Anne Hutchin- son and Roger Williams are forgotten by latter day Rhode Island sons and daughters, so the turkey of that pc culiar breed is passing aw'iy. Reports from the state agricultural stations give dire statistics of fatal disease among the turkeys and the vanishing from the land.
 In this year Missouri. Indiana and Wisconsin are banner turkey states. The uncut timber and rough ground are good rowing places, and the deadly microbe has not found its way to s1auphter the innocentS.
 White with iristinted feathers, bronze refecting the shades of their distant relatives the peafowls, dark hues with rainbow tints and brilliant red dew laps and head ornaments, strolling along the roads in dignified focks, perching gracefully on fence rails and sounding the piercing call- thus they have been seen in any coun- .ry byway before the November knell AnA