_ABOUT TURKEYS._
[Illustration]
1. The turkey is about as large as a goose, but its legs are longer,
and it stands up higher. Its feet are partly webbed, so that it can
swim a little.
2. Its bill is short, thick, and pointed, and upon its head, above and
between the eyes, grows a fleshy wattle, which does not stand up like
the comb of a cock, but hangs down over the bill. Upon the breast is
a tuft of long, coarse hair.
3. The tail is broad and rounded, and hangs downward; but the turkey
can raise it and spread it out like a fan.
[Illustration]
4. The turkey can fly but a little way, but it can run very fast. At
night, it roosts on trees or high places.
5. The hen-turkey is timid, but the old gobbler rather likes to
quarrel. He is a vain bird, and it is funny to see him strut up and
down, with his tail spread out, and his wings drawn down, his feathers
ruffled, and his neck drawn back, and to hear him puff, and cry,
"Gobble! gobble!"
6. Great flocks of wild turkeys are found in the West, where they live
in the woods upon nuts and insects. The eagles sometimes pounce down
and carry off young turkeys, as is shown in this picture.