2018 Home for the Holidays

2018 Home for the Holidays LINCOLN DAILY NEWS November 21, 2018 Page 7 Why the turkey? Why not lizards for the main meal…or a shark from the ocean? From a firsthand account in Governor Bradford’s journal “Of Plymouth Plantation” 1620-1647, fowl abounded in Plymouth and Massachusetts as winter approached. Many inhabitants of the colonies wrote to their friends in England relaying that besides waterfowl, there were many wild turkeys. The people also wrote, “although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.” Benjamin Franklin admired the Turkey over the Bald Eagle to be the national bird, “For in truth the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America…he is besides, though a little vain and silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on.” So what is this bird that we celebrate and hold traditional prayer around? A vertebrate for sure and part of the phylum chordate class. Is it a tough bird with too many feathers? There are about 10,000 known species of birds worldwide, though new research estimates there might be twice that. The wild turkey is an upland ground bird native to North America and is the heaviest member of the diverse Galliformes, according to Wikipedia. Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from the domesticated variety being imported to Britain in ships coming from Levant via Spain. The British at the time therefore associated the wild turkey with the country Turkey and the name prevails. Is it a tough three-toed bird with too many feathers? Sort of is, but you can never have too many feathers. Wild male turkeys have an incredible dark, fan-shaped tail and glossy bronze wings. Its fan feathers are the same length and when Continued u