Mellhenny: Wild Turkeys 
to have a cloudy day, when he is 
deprived of seeing the sun shining on 
his glossy plumage; and if it rains, he 
is the most disconsolate creature on 
the face of the earth.”’ 
SEXUAL SELECTION 
Thanks to the activity of hunters, 
males are much fewer than females; 
consequently the polygamous nature of 
the bird is favored. Beyond this, how- 
ever, it appears that there is a consider- 
able amount of sexual selection, many 
gobblers having large harems_ while 
others remain unmated. At mating 
time the males often fight each other, 
but the writer contradicts Audubon’s 
statement that the weaker are then 
killed by the stronger. ‘“‘I have seen 
many encounters as he describes, but 
have never in all my life seen one gob- 
bler killed by another, or even crippled, 
although I have seen two or three birds 
fight together for hours at a time. 
Nor have I ever found a gobbler dead 
in the woods as the result of such an 
encounter, or even in a worried condi- 
tion. I have killed many old gobblers 
and found their necks and heads cov- 
ered with blood, with spur punctures 
all over their breasts; but this never 
stopped them from gobbling, nor are 
these wounds deep, as the spur, which 
is an inch and a quarter long in the 
oldest of them, can only penetrate the 
skin of the body after passing through 
the heavy mail of the thick, tough 
feathers.”’ 
Although such an idea is regarded 
with disfavor by many biologists at 
the present time, the writer’s account 
indicates that he considers sexual selec- 
tion to be dependent principally on the 
selective choice of the hens, whom the 
males endeavor to attract by the well- 
known “gobble,’”’ and a variety of other 
evolutions which are thus described: 
“In the early morning, during the 
spring, a gobbler will fly from his roost 
to the ground, strutting and gobbling, 
whether a hen is in sight or not; this is 
done to attract the hens, and it is then 
you will hear the puffs to which Audu- 
bon refers. This sound is produced 
by the gobbler in expelling the air from 
its lungs, at the beginning of the strut, 
141 
the sounds and motions of which have 
never been satisfactorily described. 
While going through the strut the gob- 
bler produces a number of notes and 
motions that are of interest; first, the 
wings are drooped until the first six 
or eight feathers at the end of the wings 
touch the ground; at the same time the 
tail is spread until like an open fan and 
erected at right angles to the body; the 
neck is drawn down and back until the 
head rests against the shoulder feathers, 
and the body feathers are all thrown 
forward until they stand at about right 
angles to their normal place. At the 
same time the body is inflated with air, 
which, with the drooping wings, spread 
tail, and ruffled feathers, gives the bird 
the appearance of a big ball. Having 
blown himself up to the full capacity 
of his skin, the gobbler suddenly re- 
leases the air, making a puff exactly 
as if a person, having inflated the 
cheeks to their full capacity, suddenly 
opens the mouth. As the puff is given, 
the bird steps quickly forward four or 
five paces, dragging the ends of the stiff 
wing feathers along the ground, mak- 
ing a rasping sound; he throws forward 
his chest, and, gradually contracting 
the muscles, forces the air from his 
body with a low, rumbling boom, the 
feathers resuming their normal posi- 
tion as the air is expelled. Three dis- 
tinct sounds are produced: Puff, cluck, 
b-o-o-r-r-r-m-1.. At the termination of 
the gobbling season the primaries of 
the wings, which are used to produce 
the cluck, are badly worn by the con- 
tinued dragging on the ground.”’ 
PRESERVING THE TURKEY 
A performance of this sort is naturally 
conspicuous and since the days of Audu- 
bon it has been prophesied that the wild 
turkey would soon become extinct, due 
to the activity of hunters who follow 
his call from considerable distances 
(it is said the gobble can be heard for 
two miles in favorable atmospheric 
conditions). There is no game, how- 
ever, we are told, that holds its own so 
well as the wild turkey. In the south- 
ern states the bird is still to be found in 
reasonable abundance, and, says the 
writer, “if these states will protect them 
