THE WILD TUfiKEY. 19 



of being disturbed. When the eggs are about to be 

 hatched she rarely leaves them even for a short time, and 

 will often permit herself to be captured rather than de- 

 sert them. When the young are ready to appear, at the end 

 of thirty days, she assists them in breaking their fragile 

 prisons, and when they emerge she caresses them, dries 

 them with her bill, and in the course of a couple of days 

 helps them to totter out of the nest. 



As soon as they are able to move about she leads them 

 in search of food, and exercises the greatest discretion in 

 finding it for them, while she is equally zealous in pro- 

 tecting them from their numerous foes. The sight of a 

 hawk causes her to give a prompt note of alarm, and on 

 hearing this they scatter and hide in the long grass or 

 under leaves, and remain concealed until the danger is 

 over. Their color, which is a light-brown, with dark-brown 

 markings on the head and back, is a most valuable means 

 of guarding them from enemies, as it harmonizes so well 

 with the hue of their surroundings that they cannot be 

 readily seen. The mother is also very careful to keep them 

 away from swampy places, as a wetting is most fatal to 

 them. When they are about two or three weeks old they are 

 able to fly well enough to seek refuge in trees at night, 

 but they generally roost on the lower limbs. Being dili- 

 gent seekers after food, they quit their perches with the 

 first gleam of dawn and hie to the woods or fields in search 

 of it. They are very fond of berries and insects, but as 

 they increase in size they become omnivorous, and seem 

 to equally relish grain, grass, grapes, beetles, lizards, 

 tadpoles, pecan nuts, fruit, acorns, hickory nuts, and 

 other mast. They may, as a general rule, be found 

 seeking for pabulum in the newly cut stubble-fields each 

 morning and evening, but during the heat of the day 

 they prefer places where they can dust themselves, in 

 order to destroy the wood-ticks which find a congenial 

 home in their flesh, Sandy hillocks, much-travelled 



