178 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



him violently with spurs and wings, and in a few minutes brings 

 him to the ground. The moment he is dead, the conqueror treads 

 him under foot, but, what is strange, not with hatred, but with all 

 the motions which he employs in caressing the female." 



The period of sexual intercourse continues for several weeks, 

 when the female, towards the middle of April, begins to make 

 arrangements for placing her eggs in security. She now sees far 

 less of her mate, being anxiously occupied in securing a favorable 

 site for the nest, which is formed on the ground in a very slovenly 

 and artless manner. 



A dry situation is always selected for this purpose, most gene- 

 rally a mere hollow scooped out in the ground by the side of an 

 old stump, moss-covered log, or fallen tree, hidden from casual 

 view by the intervention of thick and tangled bushes, and the ap- 

 proach protected by the rank growth of creeping vines and matted 

 briers. 



They also form their nests occasionally in the small thickets or 

 briery patches of the open fields, (Dr. Sargent informs us that such 

 is most generally the case about his neighborhood,) as well as within 

 the edge of the canebrakes. Audubon states "that the eggs, 

 which are of a dull cream-color sprinkled with red dots, sometimes 

 amount to twenty, although the more usual number is from ten to 

 fifteen." 



The hen is very cautious when approaching her nest, so much 

 so that she seldom goes to it more than once by the same route ; 

 and when she leaves it, for the purpose of feeding or seeking the 

 company of her mate, she carefully conceals the eggs from observa- 

 tion by covering them over with leaves. 



The turkey-cock does not assist in the duties of incubation, but, 

 on the other hand, is ever eager to discover the nest and destroy 

 the eggs, so that he may insure for himself the further company 

 of the hen. This latter circumstance, therefore, is one of the 

 strongest incentives which urges the anxious mother to conceal the 

 locality of the nest from her jealous and treacherous mate. Seve- 

 ral hens, we are informed, occasionally deposit their eggs in the 



