SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 493 



The habits of this Turkey have been well described by 

 Audubon, and no extended notice of them is necessary. 

 Although it is a bird of the woods, where it roosts high in the 

 tall timber, in the deep fastnesses of which it hides, it likes 

 to come out in the open and search in the tall grass of field, 

 meadow or prairie for insects of which it is fond. When 

 discovered in such a situation it usually tries to steal away 

 through the long grass; if followed it runs rapidly, and if 

 closely pressed rises and flies, often a long distance, generally 

 making for timber if possible, where it disappears like magic 

 in the thickets. I well remember when I started my first old 

 gobbler from the long prairie grass. The rising sun at my 

 back was just throwing its level beams across the grassy sea 

 as I emerged from the timber, between the bird and its retreat. 

 At the sound of my gun the great bird rose resplendent from 

 the grass, gorgeous with metallic reflections, its broad wings 

 throwing off the sun rays like polished bronze and gold, — a 

 sight, as it sailed away, to be long remembered. 



At early morning the Turkey leaves its roost and often 

 hunts about in the "scrub." The gunner who knows its 

 habits arrives at its haunts before daybreak, and, taking his 

 place quietly, remains immovable, awaiting his opportunity, 

 which often comes before sunrise. Turkey hunters conceal 

 themselves in trees in the mating season and imitate the note 

 of the hen Turkey by drawing the breath through a "call" 

 made from a wing bone of the bird. As the males are polyg- 

 amous this call is calculated to attract them to their doom. 

 This is a destructive method which should have been pro- 

 hibited long since, as well as all killing of the bird in the 

 breeding season, when the males are thin in flesh and hardly 

 fit for food. Formerly the Turkey was one of the most unsus- 

 picious of birds, and would sit on the trees and gaze at the 

 hunter. Now it is one of the wildest of all the wild things of 

 the woods. 



In the mating season the males strut, gobble and fight in 

 the manner of the domestic Turkey. The female steals away 

 by herself to make her nest, and guards her secret carefully 

 from her many enemies, of which the male is not the least, for 



