TURKEYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 306, 23 December 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

TURKEYS.

TIIK BIRD OK TiiK SEASON". While il cannot boa-: a long and , v.-nt fitl connection with dome-tie iii'c and i bough it cannot claim to have saved Runic from tin- Hail!-, or to have been a -•acred bird lour 1 l".|l-nnd vent's ago. l!,e nil-Ley La- never;heb-s pa--e| and -■piaivlv beaten il- 1 radii ionai rival, the popularity through two or even three ceniurie-—a; any rate the turkey hawon. A- the i'.i'.ct production has waxed in public favour -.. the older bird —once iiniv-i -sally e-tee I — has waned, uniil io-diiv il i- a lit: !:--coii-idered item in the t liii-tnia- niarkets. The Li-tor-, of the turkey is interesting, though its lis,. l-,as been comparatively rapid. Previous to the year l->l-v when the in..inland of AmeriiU «,s di-eo-.-.-ri ,1. the bird wa.- unknown to civilisation: l-VJi saw it- introduction tr Kiiropc.il number of -emi-vvild being brought to the lourt of Spain by American pioiic-Ts. It mils! have n a-li-ed !-,.,.ice' very soon a ft erw a rds an. thence, or direct front Spain, found '-i way lo Ihiglaud. This probably happened in 1-V24. and a- U-armg on the point, it is int crest int. to know that tin- crest of the Strieklan. faniilv iof Norfolk I is a t tirkcy-cod-"rampant."' from this ii may be' stir- I mi-el that an ancestor of the present! baronet lir-t introduced the birds. IJy I.MI they had attained Mich popularity though -till rare and much prized — among trench-ernicn that Archbishop] i l-antner forbade the appeiuanec of more than on" di-h of t in key --cocks ai Stale! I,an,|iiel-. Some fourteen or lifteen years; | later, a great law dinner was held at | I hri-t ma-, in course of which two turkey | ',-oeks and two poults were served with | much pomp and i-cremonv. The year, j l.iT.'S v.uv them an e~t:lbii-bcd and reco-g I ni-ed feature ~f Yulotidc especially ia rural dis;rici-. for we tind ilo- old chronicler Tus.-er writing at this date: — Beef, mutton, and port, shred-pies of the best. I'i-g. v.-.-il. goose, a ud capon, and turkey well drest. Karnaby Congo, in his famous "Four Hooks on II ii-La inlt v ." pis,, writes some live year- later: "Til rUey-cock - We have not long Lad ant' ng It-; lor before the year of our Lord l.'ill) lliey were not -cell with v- nor. I believe, known to the old : .v ri t,■!'-." | Turkeys were iir-d eaten in 1-ranec ai th.- great l,an,pi,-i which wa- held I. ,-,,, nun morale I he marriage of I harhj IN. and lili/al.eth of Ati-ttia. A inn--igiunent -arriving at St. Main was iilli mediale.lv dispatched -by some zenlmj local aulhuriiv to the King'- kitchen This thoughtful action vva.s not in vain, I'l'lie King, the (,»i n-Motller. and tin' lardituU'le Lorraine at, s,, min-h. or s, many . of tin birds-- delii.ilcly cooked -am! |-.-ived on spit that they were laid low I by indigestion during tin- whole of tin ; following day. Subseipient Iv. Kin. l( haiL-s established a tv rkpy-breed inj. ! larni oil bis estate in th-e forest oi .Si I (bo-main. | To cu.nc to more recent days. \i,. tin I>arwiii keenly interested ip th,- origil j and evolution "of Ibis gallin-aoo.nis species , Though there can be little doubt that th, I American mammoth bronze turkey i directly descended from the wild North American race, this has not always heei accepted as fad. Krom experiments con ducted in India, in course of which tin keys were found lo deteriorate quickly Darwin concluded that they could not b l In- product of a tropical' country. 0 the other band, well-known authoritie asserted that white was entirely absen from the wild species, although it ipiomineut characteristic of the doniesti

turkey. In course of controversy, however, thi- lalt<-r point was conclusively disproved. 'flip range of the wild turkey extends over I lie greater part of North Americainch,ding the va-t forests of the Atlantic States, and stretching far to the North-ivi'-t tut,. Lower Canada. Southward, the bird i- found in the Isthmus of D-arien. while its rang,- -il-,, comprises such variegated fountrv a- the Rocky Mountains and the West Indies. The habit of thp birds is lo congregate in warm, sheltered valleys, during winter, and then, about mid-spring, to migrate to the rich upland-, \v in-re summer feeding is plentiful.