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Show The. t-S ""1 HE Bl Idea, apprnprl- Til' to Thanksgiving, u that wild lurki-ye should mtjpm '" l'nn'd tlml la lo JffMJL bred riRulnrly tin- i. der conditions of semi-"VfCJ, semi-"VfCJ, domestication. Orultho. i VvW' '",cl expert any that I 11 ' er",l,'lr foadhlo, I an m ,ntf n,',,P,l'ti if 1 1 vf'' such plan lira the Imps ' -mmmmmB (lir ,1( preservation yf ; ur jrcnti-Ht game bird from II li il ex tinction. The wild turkey, nf course, la a sperlca entirely dlntlnct from thu Inrae bird with the white mcntcd breast. Ono rmon why In proscr-. proscr-. vutlnn la Important la Hint II I ! needed to contribute from tlmn to I time Ita hardy blond nnd murh prijed ji Rnine flavor to the domesticated va- I 'loty by Interbreeding. Thi cotupnr- atlvely dark meal of the breast of 1 ninny of thu tnn.i. turkeys that com j lo market nowadays at the Thank- I Riving ecasnn la attributable to such js uiatlngs, which aru eagerly sought OX the knowing producer of fealh-i fealh-i ered atork. Tbe wild turkey la ao notoriously ahy lhat moat people would b Inclined In-clined to euppose It Incapable of domestication. do-mestication. Huch an Inference, bow-ever, bow-ever, according to thu export, la mlaiaken one. Aa a mniior of tact, the bird la not by nature much nfruld of man, but rather Inme and socl-able, socl-able, ao fnr aa human being ant concerned. con-cerned. In Mussachuaotta during early colonial daya then' were groat numbers of wild turki'ya. and frequently fre-quently they niadu themselves at home In the cloae nclglibnihood of llio dwelling of settlers. Today tbo aieclcs la entirely ox-tlnct ox-tlnct In New Knglund, and In other parla of the country the fowl la extremely ex-tremely wild and hard to shoot noL bowover, because of a natural shy neaa of disposition, but alinply for the renaon that It has been hunted , i and trapped ao peralatently. If wild I turkeya were bred and reared on farma a mat- j j tor o no great difficulty to accomplish, aay the export they would be docile enough, and, with . proper protection, would rnulilply rapidly. .' The faat that WII4 brim . a.wllatnl - ; their foothold to mu uum lat loa-Ued prur--. S of Ihi-lr old territory aa, for example, In Virginia Vir-ginia and Maryland appears to Indicate that It would be entirely practicable to reatock portion! '1 of their former rangea. Hut, Inoamuch aa the country anciently occupied by them la now fnr , the moat part populuted by human belnga. It la ' neceaanry. In order to accompllab the object Bug- ' gnatrd, that their multiplication ahall be encnur- ! nged under condltlona of at Icaat partial donioa- tlcntlnn that la to aay, by farming the blrda for pleoaure and profit. It la believed that. If proper protection were given tu auih enterprlaea by the law, aportlng club and wealthy Individual owning or leaning large tracta would gladly go Into the bualneaa of breeding wild turkeya not for mnrket of eourae, but for the pleaaure derivable from aucb an enter-prlae. enter-prlae. At the pruaent time not a few euch organl-utlona organl-utlona and proprietor! of great private eatatea maintain altnllar preaervea for the quail or "hob-white." "hob-white." holding field trlala In competition, to teat the ability of doga to find and point the blrda. Theae field trlala are In reality dog racea, and no ahootlng of the qunll la allowed. Where wild turkeya are concerned, however, there la no reaaon why auch extensive preaervea, covering In aome Inatancea many thouaanda of acrea, ahould not afford admirable aport under aultable reatiictlona. There la no form of outdoor amuaement more delightful than turkey bunting. Rut, If farmera could be perauaded to take up the Idea, and to breed the blrda, they might aell ahootlng ahoot-lng privilege! to aportamen at a rate which would put much more money Into their pocketa than they could guln by aendlng the fowl! to market. If the bualneaa were auitahly managed farma of 600 to 1,000 acrea would yield a larger revenue from wild turkeya than from poultry, aportamen being uaually willing to pay aeveral tlinca more for the fun of ahootlng blrda than the latter would fetch ai marketable game. For auch purpoaea, of courae, It would be neither neceaaary nor dealr-able dealr-able that the fowla ahould be too tame. On the other hand, experience baa ehown that wild turkeya tur-keya are not dlapoaed to go far away from an ao-cuitomed ao-cuitomed aource of food aupply. The wild turkey li proline, and takea kindly to clvtlltatlou. I.Ike Ita tame congener. It te a great conaumer of Injurlnua Inaecta, particularly graaa-, graaa-, boppera, and aa aucb would be uaeful to the farm er. The fiuuule laya from 15 to 80 egga fnr a "clutch," but rulaea only one brood In a year. Fnxea, hnwka and owla are deadly onemlea, but It would be the bualneaa of tbe farmer to protect the blrda from theae foea, aa be doee In the caae of hla (arm yard poultry. Aa fur human pouch-em, pouch-em, adequate lawa for protection agalnat them would have to be puaaed; but the aportamen, If , once they became Interested In the matter, could be relied upon to exert Jn thla direction a powerful power-ful Influence, which baa never yet fulled of suo-' suo-' ceaa In affulra of the kind. It aeenia dltllcult to ruallxe that loae tbau 100 , yeara ago wild turkeya were ao abundant that they oflen sold for alx ceuta apiece, a very lurge 1 one, weighing 25 or 30 pounda, occasionally futcb- S Ing aa much aa 25 ceuta. To-day a large aped- ! nien, gobbler preferred, la worth i. The apeclea hue been wiped out, not by aportamen, but by pot- buntera, who kill tbe blrda on the ruoata, trap them In pena, or lie In ambuah for theui, attracting attract-ing Ihem within eaay ahootlng dlatauce by Imitating Imita-ting the call of the hen or the youug "poult." On Klxher'a Island, In Long Ialand aound, a moat Intoreallng experiment kaa already been made II 4 J s a iriinniii L,-jjjL-j mj, , , , iiiitiiim j-nLja....iiLii jr .Mi.'. catZ-t.1t ,.,'. ' " . , hack tRon the uwr the reurlng of turkeya under eeml-domeatlcatlon though In thla caae the apeclea dealt with la the tmne one. On thla Inland, whlcb la tho moat auo-coaaful auo-coaaful tut key farm In the world, the blrda are witn aiir ebeiter, otbr than titer can find among4 the treea and scrub. Hut plenty of corn la thrown about where tbey ran get It. In thla artificial wlldurneea. aa It might be railed, which covera an area of about 4.000 acrea, the turkeya get aa cloae to nature aa possible. Indeed, In-deed, tho whole Idea of their management la to lot them alone. Interfering with them aa little aa possible. In the winter lime their heada olten freexe under their wlnga when they are at roost. Hut the expoaure dura thorn no harm; on the contrary. con-trary. It renders them eiccedlmily vlgoroua. and they attain huge bIxh, the gobblers aumetlmea weighing aa much aa 60 pounda when aent to mnrket. Kvery aprlng a few wild gobblera, trapped for the purpose In Virginia or the Carollnaa, are Introduced In-troduced Into the flocks on Fluher'a Island, to contribute con-tribute fresh blood. Thla la eateemed a matter of the utmost Importance. Our tame turkeya are notoriously no-toriously difficult blrda to rear, under ordinary circumstances, cir-cumstances, being delicate and liable to epidemic epidem-ic on which account many farmera bare given up trying to raise them. The reason why I elm-ply elm-ply that there haa been too much In breeding, and tbe Block haa loat Ita hardiness. A number of varieties of the tame turkey bava been developed by breeding, the principal onoa being the llrnnie, the Huff, the Slate, and the White, tbe Illark and the Ntrraganaett. Tha White waa originally an albino. Hut all of theae are derived from a alngle apeclea, whlcb la of Mexican origin. There la only one other known apeclea, which la native to Yucatan and Guatemala. Guatema-la. It la called tbe "ocellated turkey," owing to the fact that Ita tail la ornamented wltb eyea like that of tbe peacock. It la one of the most beautiful beauti-ful of blrda, Ha feathera blailng with metallto re-flectlnna re-flectlnna of gold, green, blue and bronxe. |
