EASTERN" TURKEY 333 



attacking them, these insects being unable to bear the odor of the earth in 

 which ants have been. The young Turkeys now advance rapidly in growth and 

 in the month of August are able to secure themselves from unexpected attacks 

 of Wolves, Foxes, Lynxes, and even Cougars by rising quickly from the ground 

 by the help of their powerful legs, and reaching with ease the highest branches 

 of the tallest trees. The young cocks show the tuft on the breast about this 

 time and begin to gobble and strut, while the young hens pur and leap in the 

 manner which I have already described. 



C. J. Pennock writes to me that in northern Florida, where the 

 turkeys are somewhat intermediate but rather nearer the northern 

 form, a cold, wet spell late in April or early in May produces con- 

 siderable mortality among the young and that after such an unfavor- 

 able season turkeys are much scarcer for one or more years. The 

 weather also has much to do with the time of laying. He has seen 

 young able to fly as early as May 26 and a brood of very young as 

 late as July 9. At times he has seen two hens together with their 

 combined broods of 20 or more young. The young are able to fly 

 up into the trees when about one-third grown. The broods of young 

 remain with their mothers all through the winter and until the spring 

 mating time comes. 



Plumages. — In the wild-turkey chick the crown is " pinkish cinna- 

 mon " and the back a somewhat lighter shade of the same, fading off 

 to still lighter shades on the breast and flanks ; the crown and upper 

 parts are heavily spotted or blotched with dark, rich browns, " bis- 

 ter " to " Vandyke brown " ; the sides of the head and underparts are 

 " pale pinkish buff " to " ivory yellow," nearly white on the chin and 

 throat and almost " straw yellow " on the belly. 



As with the quail and grouse, the young turkey starts to grow its 

 wings when a small chick ; these are soon followed by the plumage of 

 the back, breast, and flanks; the tail comes later, followed finally by 

 the head and belly. The juvenal feathers of the back are "walnut 

 brown," edged with "russet," with a broad median "russet" stripe, 

 a whitish tip, and large black areas near the tip; the wing coverts are 

 similar, but in duller colors and with less black; the scapulars are 

 " sayal brown," peppered with black and spotted or barred with black 

 along the outer edge and at the tip; the tertials and secondaries are 

 "hair brown," marked like the scapulars on the outer edge; the pri- 

 maries are "hair brown," mottled and peppered with buffy white; 

 the underparts are " fuscous," with whitish tips and shaft streaks ; 

 the tail is barred with dusky and " pinkish cinnamon." 



Before the young bird is fully grown, in September, a postjuvenal 

 molt takes place; this is a complete molt, except that the two outer 

 primaries on each w T ing are retained for a year. In this first winter 

 plumage the sexes begin to differentiate, the males becoming much 

 larger than the females, but the plumages of the two sexes are very 



