Identifier: ourdomesticbirds00robi_0 (find matches)
Title: Our domestic birds; elementary lessons in aviculture
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Robinson, John H. (John Henry), 1863-1935
Subjects: Poultry Pigeons Cage birds
Publisher: Boston, New York (etc.) Ginn and company
Contributing Library: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library
Digitizing Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library

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Fig. 156. Flock of White Holland Turkeys Bronze Turkeys of a type much superior to the old domesticstock became the common turkeys in many districts. Interest in the American Bronze Turkey arose in Englandat a very early stage of this development. In fact, there is somereason to believe that the publicity given to several early ship-ments of small lots of wild turkeys to France and Englanddid more than anything else to direct the attention of breedersin this country to the value of systematic breeding to fix thecharacters which wild blood introduced. The most celebrated i86 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS of these shipments was one taken to France by Lafayette onhis return from his last visit to the United States in 1825.About this time, or earlier, an English nobleman, who had
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Fig. 157. Bronze Turkey cock. (Photograph by E. J. Hall) some American wild turkeys, presented his sovereign with avery fine horse. The king, instead of expressing pleasure withthe gift, intimated that he would prefer some of the wild turkeys, TURKEYS 18/ and was accordingly presented with a pair. The use of wild bloodto give greater vigor to domestic stock continues, though it givesno better results now than the use of vigorous Bronze Turkeysmany generations removed from wild ancestry. Influence of the Bronze Turkey on other varieties. AlthoughWhite turkeys have long been very popular in some parts ofEurope, in this country they were, until recently, consideredtoo weak to be desirable for any but those who kept them as ahobby. By chance mixtures of Bronze and White turkeys, andin some instances by systematic breeding, white turkeys thatwere large and vigorous were produced. Some of these werelarge enough to be called mammoths, as the largest BronzeTurkeys were. A few breeders who had

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