BIRDS OF INDIANA. 751) 



;iml \\crc captives until released. For many years I thought the last 

 Wild Turkeys were killed in Franklin County about 1878 or '80. 

 More recently I have been informed by residents of Salt Creek Town- 

 ship that some were killed in that township in 1885 or 1886. 



Prof. Evermann says they were common in Carroll County up to 

 1870. Dr. Brayton, in 1879, said they were occasionally seen in 

 Marion County. They were seen in Crawford County last year (389f>- 

 1897) (W. S. Blatchley). 



They were last noted in the following counties, about the time men- 

 tioned: Lake, about 1880 (Meyer); Newton, 1884 (Pfrimmer); Wa- 

 bash, 1880 (Ulrey and Wallace). In 1886 it was reported as occasion- 

 ally seen in Laporte County (Byrkit). In my paper on Indiana Birds, 

 in 1890, I gave it as probably found in the following counties, from 

 which I have no later record of its occurrence: Grant, Monroe, Dekalb, 

 and Jefferson. In Monroe, in 1887, Prof. Blatchley said it was oc- 

 casionally taken, and Mr. H. F. Blair reported the capture of one 

 from a flock of seven near Deputy, Jefferson County. A few years 

 previously they were occasionally taken in Eipley County. The Wild 

 Turkey, however, is still found in Knox County, where a white one 

 was seen a few years ago (Chansler). Mr. Eobert Bidgway gave it as 

 common there in 1882 (Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, 1882, p. 21). It is 

 also still a survivor in limited numbers in Gibson County (John Mar- 

 tin), and in Pike and Posey counties (J. P. Key). It will only be a few 

 years until our largest game bird will be extinct within this State. 

 They usually go in flocks of from three to twenty, although I have 

 heard recently of one flock, in this State, of about -sixty. They are 

 polygamous, one male accompanying several females. Their habits, 

 time of mating, method of nesting, care of young, in fact, all their pe- 

 culiarities, resemble very much those of the domestic turkey, who 

 slonls away and hides her nest in the thicket; though the lighter- 

 colored domestic turkey is not a descendant of this species, but of the 

 Mexican form. The number of eggs varies from ten to fourteen, 

 eleven or twelve being the number commonly found. 



