16 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



subject may be rather confused, he may doubt if he 

 would be able to sketch the bird from the descrip- 

 tion given, and may desire to hear it described in 

 simpler language. 



If so, let him imagine a full-grown black turkey cock 

 of the domestic species made shy and cautious in its 

 movements, restless with its head and neck, high step- 

 ping over obstacles with its bare, sinewy legs, and 

 erect, slender and game-like in its bearing. The wild 

 turkey is to its barnyard kinsman what the racehorse 

 is to the carthorse. See him in the early morn as 

 he stands on some elevation, and welcomes the dawn, 

 and announces to his family his movements for the day. 

 His scarlet wattles lie pendent on a neck that one mo- 

 ment curves like a swan's and in another is erect like a 

 crane's ; his comb is a soldier's plume, his eye is full and 

 hazel black, gleaming with something of a human look 

 from his shapely head, covered by the wrinkles of skin 

 and a few scattered hairs, and tinged with blue and red. 

 His neck swells very gradually to his body, and is bur- 

 nished with a gloss of brown and gold that varies with 

 every light. There is no pomposity or clumsiness about 

 his air ; on the contrary, his whole manners are those of 

 an accomplished gallant and a warrior. 



You see him among the hens. Their gentle looks are 

 on him, and they follow his unspoken directions with 

 perfect readiness. They ramble hither and thither as 

 fancy leads them beneath the wild plum-trees, pick- 

 ing the stray fruit that has ripened before its season 



