THE WILD TURKEY. 131 



showy. Her plumage has sometimes a grey tinge, and the 

 general colour is always less brilliant. The fleshy 

 process on the head is much smaller, and is without 

 bristles; she has no spur, and seldom any tuft on the 

 breast, though in old hens this appendage is sometimes 

 found in conjunction with a partial assumption of the 

 male plumage; appearances which are common in many 

 other gallinaceous birds, and may generally be traced to 

 some abnormal state of the ovaries. The legs are red 

 in both sexes. 



Their breeding season varies a little according to the 

 latitude, though from the beginning of March to the 

 end of April is probably the extent of its range, and 

 during this period the forest echoes with their calls. The 

 note of the female sometimes brings several male birds to 

 the spot at once, when a battle royal immediately ensues, 

 the victor securing a harem of faithful followers, over 

 whom as well as over his vanquished rivals he acts the 

 tyrant for the rest of the season. 



The hen lays her eggs, varying from ten to fifteen in 

 number, about a month later. The nest is merely a 

 hollow scratched in the ground, under the shelter of a 

 bush or by the side of a fallen tree, and filled with dead 

 leaves. The similarity of these in colour to that of her 

 plumage is so great that she is not easily detected, even at 

 close quarters : a circumstance of which, judging from the 



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