THE WILD TURKEY. 



13 



exceedingly clamorous, 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 



FIG. 2. "CALLING" WILD TURKEYS. 



time on moonlight nights, without rising from their perch, 

 and sometimes continue it until daylight. 



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

 hollow in a thicket, a canebrake, beside a prostrate tree, 

 in tall grass or weeds, oj a grain field, and lines it rudely 

 with grass or leaves, and then deposits her eggs in iu 



