Yellow or buff turkeys were often seen among the old common turkeys. They were usually small and very poor in color. The mixture of bronze turkeys with these birds occasionally produced larger birds of a darker, more reddish buff but very uneven in color, with the tail and wings nearly white. From such birds, by careful breeding, a dark red race with white wings and tail was made. This variety is called the Bourbon Red, from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it originated. =Other varieties of the turkey.= The only other variety worthy of mention here is the Slate Turkey. Birds of this color are often seen in mixed flocks. Some of very good size and color have been bred for exhibition, and the Slate Turkey in America is classed as a distinct variety. [Illustration: Fig. 158. Bourbon Red Turkeys. (Photograph from owner, C. W. Jones, Holmdel, New Jersey)] =Place of the turkey in domestication.= In discussing the history of the turkey in domestication much has been said of the influence of conditions on the type and on the vitality of this bird. The case of the turkey is peculiar, because it seems as capable of being tamed as the fowl, the goose, or the duck, yet does not thrive under the conditions in which it would grow tame. It is peculiarly sensitive to the effects of soil which has been contaminated by the excrement of animals, and so instinctively avoids feeding places on which other animals are numerous. Thus it requires a large range and, if permitted to follow its inclination, spends most of its time at a distance from the homestead. The successful growing of turkeys depends upon the watchfulness of the caretaker and the absence of their natural enemies. This will appear more clearly when the methods of managing them are described in the next chapter. Turkey culture is not well adapted to the more intensive methods of farming which become necessary after the first fertility of the land has been exhausted. Hence the turkey has almost disappeared from many places where turkey growing was once an industry of considerable importance. The farms of the Central West and the mountain regions of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee have for many years produced most of the turkeys consumed in this country, but the changing conditions in these regions seem unfavorable to the increase of turkey culture. Attempts to grow turkeys on a large scale have been made on the Pacific coast. While these may succeed for a time, turkey culture in this country is likely to decline rapidly unless changes in economic conditions afford cheaper labor on farms, or unless the natural enemies of poultry are so reduced that flocks of turkeys may be kept in a half-wild state. CHAPTER XI MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS