642 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



their retiring mates. The sexes roost apart, but in the 

 same vicinity, and at the yelp of the female the gobbling 

 becomes reiterated, and extravagant. If heard from the 

 ground, a general rush ensues to the spot, and whether 

 the hen appears or not, the males, thus accidentally 

 brought together, spread out their train, quiver and de- 

 press their rigid wings, and strutting and puffing with a 

 pompous gait, often make battle, and directing their blows 

 at the head occasionally destroy each other in a fit of 

 jealousy. As with our domestic fowls, several hens usually 

 follow a favorite cock, roosting in his immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, until they begin to lay, when they withdraw 

 from his resort, to save their eggs, which he would 

 destroy if discovered. The females are therefore seen 

 in his company only for a few hours in the day. Soon 

 after this period, however, the male loses his ardor, and 

 the advances of affection now become reversed, the hen 

 seeking out the society of her reluctant mate. In moon- 

 light nights the gobbling of the male is heard, at inter- 

 vals of a few minutes, for hours together, and affords of- 

 ten a gratifying means of their discovery to the wakeful 

 hunter. After this period the males become lean and 

 emaciated, so as to be even unable to fly, and seek to 

 hide themselves from their mates in the closest thickets, 

 where they are seldom seen. They now also probably 

 undergo their moult, and are so dry, lean, and lousy, un- 

 til the ripening of the mast and berries, as to be almost 

 wholly indigestible and destitute of nutriment as food. 

 So constant is this impoverished state, that the Indians 

 have a proverb, " As lean as a Turkey in summer." 



About the middle of April, in Kentucky, the hens be- 

 gin to provide for the reception of their eggs, and secure 

 their prospects of incubation. The nest, merely a slight 

 hollow scratched in the ground, and lined with withered 



