HUNTING BIRDS WITH CAJVIERA 



while I would not despise the former sort of hunting, I 

 like the other much better. 



Had this book been written a century or so ago, there 

 would have been several other species to enroll among 

 the upland game-birds of the Eastern and Middle 

 Districts. One of these, the Wild Turkey, has long 

 since disappeared from the region, but is still found in 

 some parts of the South. In a very wild part of central 

 Florida, miles from any dwelling of man, in the year 

 1902, I happened upon a nest of the Wild Turkey. It 

 was a mere hollow, lined with a few feathers, under a 

 small palmetto, just on the border of the prairie and a 

 great cypress forest. The dozen or so of eggs had 

 recently hatched and the shells, neatly split in halves, 

 lay in the nest. Then there was the Heath Hen, 

 similar to the Pinnated Grouse or Prairie Hen, abundant 

 in those days, but now exterminated, save a small 

 remnant which hide in the tano;led scrub-oak tracts on 

 the island of Martha's Vineyard, Mass. The State 

 and other agencies are trying to save them, but the 

 result trembles in the balance. The Wild or Passenger 

 Pigeon which visited the region in countless multitudes 

 has likewise disappeared, with the possible exception 

 of a few stragglers. Various persons report that they 

 have seen them, but, as with supposed ghosts, they 

 never shoAV themselves to a competent witness, and 

 certainly in most cases people have mistaken them for 

 the common Mourning Dove. 



This latter bird is still with us in small numbers, 



32 



