194 



THE WILD TURKEY. 



they are frequently attacked by the lynxes, who spring upon 

 them, ^Knocking them over with their paws. 



w 



The wild turkey wanders 

 to a great distance from the 

 place of its birth. " About 

 the beginning of October tha 

 male birds assemble in flocks," 

 says Audubon, " and move 

 towards the rich bottom-lands 

 of the Ohio and Mississippi. 

 The females advance singly, 

 each with its brood of young, 

 then about two-thirds grown, 

 or in union with other 

 families, forming parties often 

 amounting to seventy or 

 eighty individuals shunning 

 the old cocks, who, when the 

 young birds have attained 

 this size, will fight with, and 

 often destroy them by re- 

 peated blows on the head. 

 When they come upon a river, 

 they betake themselves to 

 the highest eminence, and often 

 remain there a whole day ; for 

 the purpose of consultation, it 

 would seem, the males gobbl- 

 HUNTINO WILD TURKEYS. j^ calling an d making much 



ado, strutting about as if to raise their courage to a pitch 

 befitting the emergency. At length, when all around is quiet, 



