86 HABITS OP BIRDS. 



CHAPTER V. 



PECULIARITIES IN PAIRING. 



THERE are some species of birds, among- which the 

 assistance of the male is less necessary during 

 incubation, as well as in procuring food for the young, 

 than among those whose habits have been described 

 in the preceding chapter. In such species domestic 

 attachment is much less binding, and in some in- 

 stances can scarcely be said to exist. We have never 

 observed cuckoos, for example, associating in pairs, 

 though single birds may be seen in considerable 

 numbers throughout the summer ; and, among do- 

 mestic fowls, the peacock is seldom seen in company 

 with the peahen. The turkey-cock indeed is arti- 

 ficially brought to feed along with the hen ; but in 

 the case of the latter bird, this is contrary to what 

 takes place in a wild state. As a contrast to what we 

 are familiar with from observation, it may be interest- 

 ing to give a sketch of the singular manners of the 

 turkey, as it has been observed in its native woods, 

 by Audubon, Charles Bonaparte, and the earlier tra~ 

 vellers in America. 



About the beginning of October, turkeys, young 

 and old, move from their breeding districts towards 

 the rich bottom lands near the Ohio and the Missis- 

 sippi. The males (called gobblers by the Americans) 

 associate and feed in companies of from ten to a 

 hundred apart from the females, which advance 

 sometimes singly, sometimes followed by their young, 

 and sometimes in united families, forming a band of 

 from seventy to eighty individuals. All these exhibit 



