THE WILD TURKEY 301 



down again to sheltered canons or timbered river val- 

 leys, where they spend the winter. 



In the southern States turkeys have always been 

 abundant and their stronghold is still there parts of 

 Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas. Merriam's 

 turkey is said to be almost extinct in Colorado, but is 

 still abundant in Arizona and New Mexico. That there 

 should be occasional outlying colonies of a few birds 

 in Iowa and Nebraska, such as Mr. Griswold is told 

 of, seems very surprising, but such colonies cannot last 

 long unless protected by the owners of the land on 

 which they live. 



The turkey, grandest of game birds, has been ex- 

 terminated over much of its former range. Great in 

 size, and valuable for food, he is an object of pursuit 

 wherever found. So, throughout the farming country 

 of the North and West the turkey is gone and gone for- 

 ever. As the country is settled up, is his complete ex- 

 termination to follow? Domesticated, he will always 

 survive, but should we not strive to retain the old wild 

 turkey of the eastern States in his untamed wild state, 

 self-dependent, one of the typical and interesting in- 

 habitants of our primitive forests and our far-stretch- 

 ing southern plains? 



