River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-11-22
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, it is the hour to win opinion re-
garding the American national bird.
Long has the eagle scared and
screamed and tapped its wings, but
no day of regard has been put in its
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 place for the bird among ma
tional emblems. The eagle is a cos
mopolitan, the bird of Jove; 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.
The American turkey was among
the strange birds discovered by the
Spaniards when they invaded Mexico
Oviedo describes it about 1927 as do
mesticated among the christianized
Indians of New Spain (Mexico) and
being the bird reserved for festivals.
Gay describes the gallopavo sylvestris
the wild turkey of New England
as the wonder of the pilgrim fathers,
and from all this data it will be seen
that the turkey has claim to ma
tiOnal tribute.
Virginia and Missouri historians
write of turkey fowls as peculiar to
their wooded hills, but Rhode Island
has laid an official claim to the best
bred stock that goes abroad. Little
Rhody bases its 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 the
turkey as a sacred bird after their
days the Nantes 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
best calculated to make it delectable
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 aw5y. 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 it's way to
slaughter the innocGuts.
White with iris-tinted feathers,
bronze rejecting 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
Aocks, perching gracefully on fence
rails and sounding the piercing call
thus they have been seen in any coun-
try byway before the November knell
was sounded.