210 WILD TURKEY. 



the attacks of the artful and vigilant hunter, who, when they are all 

 quietly perched for the night, takes a stand previously chosen by day- 

 light ; and, when the rising moon enables him to take sure aim, shoots 

 them down at leisure, and, by carefully singling out those on the lower 

 branches first, he may secure nearly the whole flock, neither the presence 

 of the hunter, nor the report of his gun, intimidating the Turkeys, 

 although the appearance of a single Owl would be sufficient to alarm 

 the whole troop : the dropping of their companions from their sides 

 excites nothing but a buzzing noise, which seems more expressive of 

 surprise than fright. This fancied security, or heedlessness of danger, 

 while at roost, is characteristic of all the gallinaceous birds of North 

 America. 



The more common mode of taking Turkeys is by means of pens, con- 

 structed with logs, covered in at top, and with a passage in the earth 

 under one side of it, just large enough to admit an individual when 

 stooping. The ground chosen for this purpose is generally sloping, and 

 the passage is cut on the lower side, widening outwards. These pre- 

 parations being completed, Indian corn is strewed for some distance 

 around the pen, to entice the flock, which, picking up the grain, is 

 gradually led towards the passage, and thence into the enclosure, where 

 a sufficient quantity of corn is spread to occupy the leader until the 

 greater part of the Turkeys have entered. When they raise their heads 

 and discover that they are prisoners, all their exertions to escape are 

 directed upwards and against the sides of the pen, not having sagacity 

 enough to stoop sufficiently low to pass out by the way they entered ; 

 and thus they become an easy prey, not only to the experienced hunter, 

 but even to the boys on the frontier settlements. 



In proportion to the abundance or scarcity of food, and its good or 

 bad quality, they are small or large, meagre or fat, and of an excellent 

 or indifferent flavor : in general, however, their flesh is more delicate, 

 more succulent, and better tasted, than that of the Tame Turkey : they 

 are in the best order late in the autumn, or in the beginning of winter. 

 T)ie Indians value this food so highly, when roasted, that they call it 

 " the white man's dish," and present it to strangers as the best they can 

 off"er. It seems probable, that in Mexico the Wild Turkey cannot obtain 

 such substantial food as in the United States, since Hei'nandez informs 

 us that their flesh is harder, and, in all respects, inferior to that of the 

 domestic bird. 



The Indians make much use of their tails as fans ; the women weave 

 their feathers with much art, on a loose web made of the rind of the 

 Birch tree, arranging them so as to keep the down on the inside, and 

 exhibit the brilliant surface to the eye. A specimen of this cloth was 

 in the Philadelphia Museum ; it was found enveloping the body of an 

 Indian female, in the great Saltpetre cave of Kentucky. 



