=Common turkeys.= The turkey is not so well adapted to domestication as the fowl, duck, and goose. Under the conditions to which they have usually been subjected domestic turkeys have lost much of the vigor of the wild stock. As far as is known, the birds taken to Europe after the discovery of America were black or nearly black. In Europe white sports appeared and were preserved, and the colors became mixed--black, white, gray of various shades, brown, and buff. That has been the character of most flocks in this country until quite recent times, and many such flocks are still found. =Improved varieties.= The development of the domestic turkey is unique in that the most marked improvement in domestic stocks has been due to extensive introductions of the blood of the wild race. The reason for this is indicated in the statement in the preceding paragraph, in regard to the lack of adaptation of the turkey to the ordinary conditions of life in domestication. The turkey deteriorates where the other kinds of poultry mentioned would improve. So, while in Europe a few color varieties were made, and in some localities both there and in America local breeds of special merit arose, on the whole the domestic stocks were degenerate. The distinct color varieties were the Black, the White, and the Gray, but by no means all turkeys of these colors were well-bred birds. The color varieties were crudely made by the preference of breeders in a certain locality for a particular color. They were impure and often produced specimens of other colors because of the occasional use of breeding birds unlike the flock. In early times it was the almost universal opinion that crossbred stock had more vitality than pure-bred stock. Hence farmers, although preferring a certain type of animal, would often make an outcross to an entirely different type, and then by selection go back to the type of their preference. When this mode of breeding is adopted, undesirable colors may appear for many years after a bird of a foreign variety has been used in breeding. The local European breeds that gained a wide reputation were the Black Norfolk, the Cambridgeshire Bronze, and the White Holland. Black and White turkeys were perhaps quite as popular and as well established in other places as in those mentioned. Black turkeys were the most common kind in Spain and in some parts of France. In some other parts of France, and in parts of Germany and Austria, White turkeys were the most numerous, but in general the turkeys of Europe and America were of various colors, with gray predominating.