336 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



deliberately walked in front of tbem, mounted a fence, and disappeared leisure- 

 ly over a low hill before tbey were able to decide them to be wild. No sooner 

 were they out of sight, than they took to their legs and then to their wings, 

 soon placing a wide valley between them and their now amazed and mortified 

 pursuers. 



Wild turkeys have a preference for roosting over water, and they 

 will often go a long way in order to obtain such a roost. The back- 

 water from the overflowing streams when it spreads out widely 

 through the standing timber of the river bottoms, affords them great 

 comfort; also the cypress ponds to be found in our southern river 

 districts. They evidently fancy that there is greater safety in such 

 places. 



Voice. — The wild turkey has quite a vocabulary, according to E. A. 

 Mcllhenny (1914), a language with various meanings. If the strut- 

 ting gobbler thinks he has heard the cluck and yelp of a calling 

 hen, cluck, cluck, keow, keow, keow, he drops his broad wings, partly 

 spreads his tail, and listens; then vut-v-r-r-o-o-o-m-m-i comes the 

 booming strut, and gil-ooole-obole-ooole. Then let the hen give her 

 low quavering yelp, keow-keow, keow, and he will yell out in a fierce 

 and prolonged rattle. More calls from the hen, keow, keow, kee, 

 kee, or cluck, keow, ku-ku, one interspersed with loud gobblings, until 

 the siren call of the hen, cut-o-r-r-r, cut, cut, keow, keow, keow, indi- 

 cates that she has gone to him and all is quiet. Should any threat- 

 ening danger intrude on this pretty love scene, a warning note is 

 given, cluck, put, put, or put, o-r-r-r-r, or perhaps the turkeys walk 

 quietly away saying, quit, quit, in irritated alarm. 



Enemies. — Although the eggs and young are preyed upon by 

 many predatory animals and birds, it is only the larger species that 

 are strong enough to attack an adult turkey. Audubon (1840) 

 writes : 



Of the numerous enemies of the Wild Turkey, the most formidable, excepting 

 man, are the Lynx, the Snowy Owl, and the Virginian Owl. The Lynx sucks 

 their eggs and is extremely expert at seizing both young and old, which he 

 effects in the following manner. When he has discovered a flock of turkeys 

 he follows them at a distance for some time, until he ascertains the direction in 

 which they are proceeding. He then makes a rapid circular movement, gets 

 in advance of the flock, and lays himself down in ambush until the birds 

 come up, when he springs upon one of them by a single bound and secures it. 

 While once sitting in the woods on the banks of the Wabash, I observed two 

 large Turkey-cocks on a log by the river, pluming and picking themselves. I 

 watched their movements for awhile, when of a sudden one of them flew 

 across the river, while I perceived the other struggling under the grasp of a 

 Lynx. 



Game. — It is probably safe to say that the wild turkey is the largest 

 and grandest game bird in the world, certainly in North America. It 

 is not so well known and not so popular as the quail or ruffed grouse, 

 because comparatively few sportsmen have had an opportunity to 



