THE WILD TUEKEY. 227 



head invariably being the object fired at, but quickness of 

 aim being now a desideratum, the shot-gun has usurped 

 the place of the other weapon. On damp hazy moonlight 

 nights in autumn, if the roosting-place be discovered, 

 several in succession may frequently be killed, before the 

 others become sufficiently alarmed to seek safety in flight. 



This noble bird, the parent stock from which our domestic 

 race is sprung, should be seen in the free untrammelled 

 state of nature, unsubdued by domestication, to have a just 

 conception of his grandeur and consequence. No pasha 

 with many tails, no Mongol mandarin with obsequious 

 followers, struts about with greater consequence, while the 

 ladies of his harem gaze with meek and submissive admira- 

 tion on all their liege lord does. In his domestic arrange- 

 ments he is truly an autocrat of the first water, caressing 

 one, sharing his food with another, or punishing a third ; 

 however, he is not a brave gallant, for let a note suspicious 

 of alarm be heard, down will go his head, and, forgetful of 

 all his family ties, he will seek safety in the most precipitous 

 flight, not with wings unless compelled, but on foot, and 

 at a gait that would astonish an ostrich. When human in- 

 habitants are scarce and brush abundant where wild turkeys 

 inhabit, they are not remarkable for their cunning ; but if 

 an old bird should remain sole survivor of his race in the 

 neighbourhood of land newly settled, I doubt much if a 

 more crafty, suspicious animal can be found in the world, 

 for his whole life seems to be spent in a state of uneasiness, 

 seeing and dreading danger in every breath of wind or 

 moving object. Not unfrequently this very watchfulness 

 leads to his destruction, for to avoid an imaginary danger 



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