NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 13 



confinement, rivals liis j^arent in plumage, size, and almost in 

 wildness; having a free run on the open, his magnificent bronzed 

 feathers show in the sun to greater advantage even than those of 

 the old bird. 



With these exceptions the rest of these birds were used for 

 table, for which purpose they had to be shot, that being the only 

 way to get hold of them. On the table some hold them to be 

 more delicate than the Common Turkey, though they do not 

 differ much from it; this may be owing to some extent to their 

 being fed on Indian corn and Indian meal, the same as the rest 

 of the poultry, and not depending altogether on wild food as 

 they do in their native woods, where their flesh naturally has 

 a slightly gamey flavour. 



A high precipitous rock, standing peculiarly on the level grounds 

 beside the house, crowned on the summit with a dense growth 

 of ivy and overshadowed by a tree, attracted the attention of one 

 of the hens; and in the summer of 1868, the hens having been let 

 out of confinement for a change, one of them nested in the very 

 centre of this bunch of ivy. Her mode of getting upstairs was 

 original, and displayed her wild cunning, for she first of all got 

 into the tree, arid going along a branch that overhung the rock, let 

 herself drop on to her nest; when on her nest not a vestige of 

 her could be seen, and it was some time before her hiding-place 

 was discovered. When the young birds came out the difficulty 

 was to get them on to " terra firma," so the keeper climbed up 

 and brought the little things safely down, but the old hen would 

 not then look near them, and took off to the thicket like a wild 

 thing; fearing the young birds would perish, the keeper managed 

 to capture the hen and put the young birds in beside her, but she 

 was so violent that she trampled several to death, and the covey 

 was becoming beautifully less before she condescended to care for 

 her reduced family. 



Our experience has been that during hatching time, since these 

 birds are very wild, their nests should not be approached or dis- 

 turbed in any way, otherwise the chances are they will forsake them. 

 Besides the casualty above mentioned, the young birds seemed 

 more difficult to rear, and our flock in 1868 was consequently a 

 small one. 



This last season (1869), the hens were also allowed to be at large, 

 but their first eggs were taken from them and set under common 



