BIRDS OF KANSAS. 235 



by no means confines his attention to one female, as I have seen 

 a cock caress several hens, when he happened to fall in with 

 them in the same place, for the first time. After this the hens 

 follow their favorite cock, roosting in his immediate neighbor- 

 hood, if not on the same tree, until they begin to lay, when they 

 separate themselves in order to save their eggs from the male, 

 who would break them all for the purpose of protracting his 

 sexual enjoyments. The females then carefully avoid him, ex- 

 cept during a short period each day. After this the males be- 

 come clumsy and slovenly, if one may say so, cease to fight 

 with each other, give up gobbling or calling so frequently, and 

 assume so careless a habit that the hens are obliged to make all 

 the advances themselves. They yelp loudly and almost contin- 

 ually for the cocks, run up to them, caress them, and employ 

 various means to rekindle their expiring ardour. 



"Turkey cocks when at roost sometimes strut and gobble, 

 but I have more generally seen them spread out and raise their 

 tail, and emit the pulmonic puff, lowering their tail and other 

 feathers immediately after. During clear nights, or when there 

 is moonshine, they perform this action at intervals of a few 

 minutes for hours together, without moving from the same spot, 

 and indeed sometimes without rising on their legs, especially 

 toward the end of the love season. The males now become 

 greatly emaciated, and cease to gobble, their breast sponge be- 

 coming flat. They then separate from the hens, and one might 

 suppose that they had entirely deserted their neighborhood. 

 At such seasons I have found them lying by the side of a log, 

 in some retired part of the dense woods and cane thickets, and 

 often permitting one to approach within a few feet. They are 

 then unable to fly, but run swiftly, and to a great distance. A 

 slow turkey hound has led me miles before I could flush the 

 same bird. Chases of this kind I did not undertake for the 

 purpose of killing the bird, it being then unfit for eating, and 

 covered with ticks, but with the view of rendering myself ac- 

 quainted with its habits. They thus retire to recover flesh and 

 strength, by purging with particular ' species of grasses, and 

 using less exercise. As soon as_ their condition is improved. 



