Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/65

 TURKEY 55 domestic bird, contrary to the usual rule, has degenerated in size, flavor, and beauty. The flesh of the wild turkey is more pheasant-like than that of the domesticated varieties. The old males keep by themselves, as do the females and young, the former being apt to destroy the eggs in order to prolong the honeymoon ; they are polygamous, the males in the breeding sea- son, in March, strutting before the females, with tail spread and elevated, wings drooping, feathers ruffled, head and neck drawn back, emitting a puffing sound ; the males also utter singular notes, resembling the word " gobble" several times repeated ; they fight desperately for the possession of the females. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground filled with with- ered leaves, in a dry and sheltered situation, and usually contains, when full, 10 to 15 eggs ; after this time the males conceal themselves while recovering their condition ; the females alone incubate, carefully concealing the nest, approaching it with great caution and always in a different way, covering the eggs with dry leaves when going in search of food, and bravely defending them against depredators ; sometimes three or four females lay in one nest, one remaining to guard it while the others seek for food. The males are attentive to the young, which run as soon as hatched, but are very tender and easily killed by cold and wet. Turkeys run very fast, and when pursued trust more to their legs than to their wings for es- cape ; they are generally shot from their roosts at night, or entrapped in a pen or enclosure into which they are enticed by grain ; their feathers are employed by the Indians in orna- mental work ; their greatest enemies are lynxes and owls, and other carnivorous mammals and birds. Two other species of turkey, the M. ocellata (Cuv.) and M. Hexicana (Gould), have been described as inhabiting Central America, Mexico, and the table lands of the Eocky moun- tains, both closely resembling in plumage and habits the common wild species. The progen- itor of the present race of domesticated tur- keys is not known with certainty ; some natu- ralists incline to the belief that it is the M. gallopavo, while others consider it to be an allied species, perhaps now extinct. Domesti- cated turkeys thrive best on high, dry, and sandy soil, and when grasshoppers are plenti- ful can pick up their own living ; in temperate climates they generally lay twice a year, 15 eggs or less, white with small spots of reddish yellow. One male will suffice for 12 to 15 females, the latter being prolific for about five years, though those of two or three years are the best hatchers ; incubation lasts 27 or 28 days, and they are such close sitters that food must be placed within their reach ; when they are raised on a large scale they are made to hatch in darkened places, and so that the tur- key pouts, or young turkeys, shall all come out together; the young require warmth, proper food, and pure water, and must be protected against rain and the hot sun ; they are liable at all ages to many diseases, for the treatment of which special works in abundance can be consulted. Several fossil turkeys have been described by Professors Cope and Marsh in the post-tertiary. TURKEY, or The Ottoman Empire (Turk. Os- manli Vilayeti), a country extending over parts of southeastern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa. It consists of the ab- solute possessions of the sultan (Turkey prop- er) and of his dependencies, the latter embra- cing the tributary states of Roumania, Servia, Samoa, and Egypt, and the nominal depen- dencies Tripoli, Tunis, and Montenegro. Tur- key proper, usually divided into Turkey in Europe (situated between lat. 34 45' and 45 30' K, and Ion. 15 40' and 29 40' E.) and Turkey in Asia (between lat. 12 40' and 42 5' N"., and Ion. 24 50' and 51 E.), borders on Austria, Servia, Roumania, European Russia, the Black sea, Russia in Asia, Persia, the Per- sian gulf, Arabia, the Red sea, Egypt, the Mediterranean, the Archipelago, Greece, the Ionian sea, the Adriatic, and Montenegro. Its political divisions (mostly vilayets) in Europe are the metropolitan district of Constanti- nople, Edirneh or Adrianople (Roumelia or Thrace), the principality of Tuna or the Dan- ube (Bulgaria), Salonica (Macedonia), Janina (Thessaly and Albania), Prisrend (Albania), Scutari (formerly part of Prisrend), Bosnia (including Turkish Croatia), Herzegovina (un- til lately part of Bosnia), and Candia or Crete. The divisions of Turkey proper in Asia are the Asiatic portion of the metropolitan district, Khodavendighiar or Brusa, Aidin, Konieh, Angora, Kastamuni, Trebizond, Sivas, and Adana, all in Asia Minor ; Erzerum (Arme- nia), Diarbekir (Kurdistan), Bagdad (Irak Arabi), Aleppo (N". Syria), Sur or Syria (cen- tral Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine), Hedjaz and Yemen (in "W. Arabia), Hedjer (in E. Ara- bia), and the islands of the White sea (Archi- pelago). The aggregate area of Turkey prop- er in Europe is about 140,000 sq. m., and in Asia 760,000 sq. m. The population of the former is about 8,500,000, and of the latter 13,200,000. The aggregate area of the depen- dencies is estimated at about 1,300,000 sq. m., and their aggregate population at about 26,000,- 000; but all statistics relating to Turkey are necessarily imperfect in the absence of regu- lar official returns. The most important cities in Turkey proper, besides Constantinople, the capital, are Adrianople and Salonica in Eu- rope, and Smyrna, Damascus, Bagdad, Bey- rout, Aleppo, Brusa, Erzerum, and Trebizond, in Asia. The coasts of Turkey proper are washed by the Black sea, the Bosporus, the sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, the Archi- pelago, the Mediterranean, the Ionian sea, the Adriatic, the Red sea, and the Persian gulf. This vast extent of coast embraces many excel- lent harbors. It is indented by numerous gulfs and bays, of which some of the principal are the gulfs of Avlona, Arta, and Salonica, in Eu-