BIRDS OF KANSAS. 233 



they cease their exertions for a few moments, float down the 

 stream until they come to an accessible part, and by a violent 

 effort generally extricate themselves from the water. It is re- 

 markable that immediately after thus crossing a large stream, 

 they ramble about for some time as if bewildered. In this state 

 they fall an easy prey to the hunter. 



"When the Turkeys arrive in parts where the mast is abund- 

 ant, they separate into smaller flocks, composed of birds of all 

 ages and both sexes, promiscuously mingled, and devour all 

 before them. This happens about the middle of November. 

 So gentle do they sometimes become after these long journeys, 

 that they have been seen to approach the farm houses, associate 

 with the domestic fowls, and enter the stables and corn cribs in 

 quest of food. In this way, roaming about the forests, and 

 feeding chiefly on mast, they pass the autumn and part of the 

 winter." [During the summer months the birds usually leave 

 the timber lands in the morning, and wander far out upon the 

 prairies, in search of grasshoppers, etc., returning at eve to their 

 favorite roosting places in the branches of the tall trees, pre- 

 ferring those that overhang the streams.] 



"As early as the middle of February, they begin to experi- 

 ence the impulses of propagation. The females separate and 

 fly from the males. The latter strenuously pursue, and begin 

 to gobble or to utter notes of exultation. The sexes roost apart, 

 but at no great distance from each other. When a female utters 

 a call note, all the gobblers within hearing return the sound, 

 rolling note after note, with as much rapidity as if they intended 

 to emit the last and the first together, not with spread tail, as 

 when fluttering round the females on the ground, or practicing 

 on the branches of the trees on which they have roosted for the 

 night, but much in the manner of the domestic Turkey, when 

 an unusual or unexpected noise elicits its singular hubbub. If 

 the call of the female comes from the ground, all the males im- 

 mediately fly towards the spot, and the moment they reach it, 

 whether the hen be in sight or not, spread out and erect their 

 tail, draw the head back on the shoulders, depress their wings 

 with a quivering motion, and strut pompously about, emitting 



