474 HABITS OF THE TURKEY. 



alarms the Turkeys, and thus betrays their presence in the darkness of night. A most com- 

 mon method for capturing the Turkeys is by means of a trap, constructed as follows : A 

 covered inclosure is made of trees, about four feet high, closed excepting at one end, where a 

 small opening is left, through which a small trench is dug, sloping very gradually at both 

 ends, into and from the pen. The portion nearest the inclosure is covered. This passage- 

 way, the interior of the pen, and the vicinity of the opening, to some distance into the forest, 

 are strewn with corn. The Turkeys, attracted by the corn, follow into the pen, and when 

 they wish to leave endeavor to get out at the sides, but have not intelligence to escape by the 

 opening through which they entered. In this way they are sometimes entrapped in great 

 numbers. 



In unsettled parts of the country the Wild Turkeys are seen to associate with tame ones, 

 and to fight them. Wild Turkeys have been known to rear broods in confinement, though rarely. 



THE now well-known Turkey is another example of the success with which foreign birds 

 can be acclimatized in European countries, and is one of the creatures that affords great 

 encouragement to the members of the Acclimatization Society to persevere in their valuable 

 efforts. Indeed, if so wild a bird as the Turkey, and one so delicate in its youth, can be thus 

 transferred from America to Europe, there seems every reason that the numerous birds and 

 beasts mentioned by Mr. Buckland in his well-known lecture on this subject, may find a 

 suitable home somewhere abroad. 



As to its qualities as a poultry bird, there is little to be said, as every reader will have had 

 practical experience thereof, and the mode of breeding and rearing it belongs to the regular 

 treatises on poultry, and does not come within the province of this work. 



Admirable descriptions of the Turkey when wild are given by Audubon and other 

 writers, and their narratives must be condensed very briefly in consequence of our rapidly 

 decreasing space. 



The Turkey is spread over many parts of America, such as the wooded parts of Arkansas, 

 Louisiana, Alabama, Indiana, etc., but does not seem to extend beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

 It begins to mate about the middle of February, and the males then acquire those ludicrous 

 gobbling sounds which have caused the bird to be called Gobbler, or Bubbling Jock, by the 

 whites, and Oocoocoo by the Cherokees. In Persia, a pair of these birds, which had wandered 

 there in some strange manner, were thought to speak very good Arabic, though the particular 

 dialect was beyond the comprehension of the hearers. 



The female makes her nest in some secluded spot, and is very guarded in her approaches, 

 seldom employing the same path twice in succession ; and if discovered, using various wiles 

 by which to draw the intruder from the spot. As soon as the young are hatched, she takes 

 them under her charge, and the whole family go wandering about to great distances, at first 

 returning to the nest for the night, but afterwards crouching in any suitable spot. Marshy 

 places are avoided by the Turkey, as wet is fatal to the young birds until they have attained 

 their second suit of clothes, and wear feathers instead of down. When they are about a fort- 

 night old they are able to get up into trees, and roost in the branches, safe from most of the 

 numerous enemies which beset their path through life. 



The great horned owl is, however, still able and willing to snatch them from the branches, 

 and would succeed oftener in its attempts were it not baffled by the instinctive movements of 

 the Turkey. Even the slight rustling of the owl's wings sets the watchful Turkeys on the 

 alert, and with anxious eyes they note his movements as he sails dark and lethal over them 

 in the moonbeams, his large lambent eyeballs glowing with opalescent light ; a feathered 

 Azrael impending over them, and with fearfiil deliberation selecting his victim. Suddenly the 

 stoop is made, but the intended victim is ready for the assault ; ducks down its head, flattens 

 its tail over its back, and the owl, striking upon this improvised shield, finds no hold for his 

 claws, and slides off his prey like water from a duck's back. The whole flock drop from the 

 boughs, and are safely hidden among the dark underwood before their enemy has recovered 

 himself and renewed the attack. 



The lynx is a terrible foe to the Turkeys, bounding suddenly among them, and as 



