PECULIARITIES IN PAIRING. 



Wild Turkey and Young. 



a dread of the old cocks, and are constantly on the 

 watch to avoid them ; for though the young birds are 

 now about two-thirds grown, the males seem already 

 to regard them as rivals, and whenever they have an 

 opportunity they will attack and often kill them by 

 repeated blows on the head. 



Towards the middle of February, or early in March, 

 the turkeys begin to prepare for breeding, the females 

 at first shunning the males, who eagerly pursue them 

 and utter their peculiar gobbling call. At night, the 

 two sexes roost apart, though usually at no consi- 

 derable distance. When a female chances to utter 

 her call-note, all the males within hearing return a 



