For additional information about heritage turkeys, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy can be reached through www.albc-usa.org.

Some breeds, such as the Narragansett, had less than a dozen individuals left, and many considered most heritage turkeys to be beyond hope.

By 2006, the count of heritage turkeys in the U.S. was up to 8,800 breeding birds.

The first criterion is that heritage turkeys are able to mate naturally with no intervention from humans, and with expected fertility rates of 70-80%.

All heritage turkeys have a relatively slow to moderate rate of growth.

Due to their rarity and the length of time involved in their growth, heritage turkeys are also far more expensive than their more common brethren.

In an effort to preserve the heritage turkeys, he has provided baby birds to other farmers to expand their numbers.

And to meet increasing demand, this year about 10,000 heritage turkeys from old-fashioned breeds will be available, twice as many as last year.

When we were finished I would not have been ashamed to serve any of the following birds on Thanksgiving, though the heritage turkeys were still my favorites.

In the middle of the book, Foer becomes friendly with a farmer named Frank Reese, who raises what are known as "heritage" turkeys.