18 AMERICA!^ GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



when the hens leave them, they keep by themselves until 

 they recover their strength, and then reunite in small 

 bachelor parties; but instead of being exceedingly clam- 

 orous, as they were in the early part of the mating 

 period, they become almost silent. Yet they sometimes 

 strut and gobble on their roosts, though, as a general rule, 

 they do not, and content themselves with elevating and 

 lowering the tail feathers, and uttering a puffing sound. 

 They keep at this exercise for hours at a time on moon- 

 light nights, without rising from their perch, and some- 

 times continue it until daylight. 



When the hen is ready to lay, she scratches out a 

 slight hollow in a thicket, a cane brake, beside a pros- 

 trate tree, in tall grass or weeds, or a grain field, lines 

 it rudely with grass or leaves, and then deposits her 

 eggs in it. These, which vary in number from ten to 

 twenty, are smaller and more elongated than those of the 

 domestic turkey, and are of a dull cream or a dirty-white 

 color, sprinkled with brownish-red spots. 



Audubon says that several hens may lay their eggs in 

 one nest, and hatch and raise the broods together. He 

 found three hens sitting on forty-two eggs in a single 

 nest, and one was always present to protect them. 



If the eggs are not destroyed, only one brood is raised 

 in a year; but if they are, the female calls loudly for a 

 male, and wlien she is rejoined by one, both keep com- 

 pany until she is ready to commence laying again, when 

 she deserts him or drives him away, as he has the very 

 strongest penchant for destroying the eggs, in order to 

 keep her in his company. This forces her to build her 

 nest in the most secluded spot she can find, and to cover 

 it carefully with leaves or grass whenever she leaves it in 

 search of food. 



She seldom moves far from it, and is so faithful to her 

 trust that she will allow her deadliest foes to approach 

 her to within a few paces before she manifests any sign 



