CHAPTER XV. 



WILD TURKEY. 



Two species represent this family, viz., the common 

 wild turkey, so well known in nearly all of the states 

 composing the Union, and the ocellated, common to 

 Honduras and portions of Central America. 



Although this race are not migratory, still they are 

 great wanderers ; thus a locality where they have been 

 abundant one month, may be entirely deserted by 

 them the next. It is found in the province of Ontario 

 in Canada, which I am led to believe is the most 

 northern range of its habitat ; here it was at one time 

 tolerably abundant, but the cultivation of the wild 

 lands, and constant persecution by the settlers, have 

 very much reduced their numbers. Pennsylvania and 

 Ohio at one time swarmed with them, but there, as in 

 Canada, they have suffered much diminution ; however, 

 in the adjoining states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 

 and Wisconsin they can be found in sufficient numbers 

 to remunerate the sportsman for the time and labour 

 passed in their pursuit. All the southern states 

 possess them in greater or less abundance, but their 

 range does not extend westward beyond the eastern 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountains. 



The early settlers, when this game was far less 

 wary than now, were in the habit of shooting them 



