unless they be properly fed with grain, nuts or other foods. 

 They are very fond of pecans and in the South they eat many 

 of these nuts. Woodlands for food and cover and grassy open- 

 ings bordering fields for grasshoppers, make ideal ground for 

 wild turkey preserving. 



Wild turkeys are now quoted from $15 to $20 for gobblers; 

 $20 to $25 for hens. Turkeys, like other pheasants are polyg- 

 amous : one gobbler and from three to six hens make the proper 

 groups for breeding. The eggs sell readily at $10 to $12 per 

 dozen. These prices undoubtedly will fall somewhat in a few 

 years; and the prices for turkeys in the markets soon should be 

 lower than the price of domestic turkeys now is, when some 

 big turkey "shoots" are started in the West and South. Tur- 

 keys can be reared cheaply on areas where their natural foods 

 are abundant and sport will pay a good part of the cost of 

 production. Wild turkeys can be successfully introduced, no 

 doubt, on the wild fowl preserves about the Great Lakes and 

 in Canada, where mast bearing woods adjoin the marshes. 

 They have been introduced successfully and are breeding on 

 the state refuges in the Pennsylvania mountains, and with 

 proper attention soon they can be made abundant in many 

 places throughout their former range, and in states where 

 they were not indigenous. Doubtless, the destruction of the 

 forests had much to do with the disappearance of the wild 

 turkeys. Elliot ascribes the loss to "too much shooting, 

 chiefly"; but I am inclined to charge it to the lack of practical 

 preservation since the turkeys, like other game birds, will 

 stand a lot of shooting, provided they be protected from their 

 natural enemies and provided they have suitable covers (even 

 small ones will do) and an abundance of food. 



