218 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



in succession may frequently be killed, before the 

 others become sufficiently alarmed to seek safety in 

 flight. 



This noble bird, the parent stock from which our 

 domestic race is sprung, should be seen in the free 

 untrammelled state of nature, unsubdued by domesti- 

 cation, to have a just conception of his grandeur and 

 consequence. No pasha with many tails, no Mongol 

 mandarin with obsequious followers, struts about with 

 greater consequence, while the ladies of his harem gaze 

 with meek and submissive admiration on all their liege 

 lord does. In his domestic arrangements he is truly an 

 autocrat of the first water, caressing one, sharing his 

 food with another, or punishing a third ; however he is 

 not a brave gallant, for let a note suspicious of alarm 

 be . heard, down will go his head, and, forgetful of 

 all his family ties, he will seek safety in the most pre- 

 cipitous flight, not with wings unless compelled, but on 

 foot, and at a gait that would astonish an ostrich. 

 When human inhabitants are scarce and brush abun- 

 dant where wild turkeys inhabit, they are not remarkable 

 for their cunning ; but if an old bird should remain 

 sole survivor of his race in the neighbourhood of land 

 newly settled, I doubt much if a more crafty sus- 

 picious animal can be found in the world, for his 

 whole life seems to be spent in a state of uneasiness, 

 seeing and dreading danger in every breath of wind or 

 moving object. Not unfrequently this very watchful- 

 ness leads to his destruction, for to avoid an imaginary 

 danger he runs into a real one. Again, although this 

 bird may be accredited with an unusual amount of 

 cunning, some of his actions are so extremely stupid, 

 that it causes astonishment in the mind of a reasoning 



