Extermination of Wild Turkey in Iowa. 87 



The nest, if made, has not been found. There are two pairs 

 here this year in the haunts where for the two years before 

 only one pair had been. 



May 31, 1913. No nest; no Cardinals. 



THE EXTERMINATION OF THE WILD TURKEY 

 IN CLAYTON COUNTY, IOWA. 



BY ALTHEA R. SHERMAN. 



Some brief reference to the history of Iowa may afford a 

 better understanding of the early status, and speedy extinc- 

 tion of the Wild Turkey in Clayton County, following the oc- 

 cupancy of its land by the white race. After the treaty of 

 1804, made by the United States Government with the Sacs 

 and Fox Indians, the whole of Iowa (excepting a few square 

 miles in the northeast corner, which were claimed by the 

 Sioux) was set apart as the tribal property of the Sacs and 

 Foxes. It was held by them as their private hunting grounds 

 and was jealously guarded by these warlike Indians from 

 encroachment by other tribes. At the same time it was one of 

 the duties of United States soldiers stationed in the frontier 

 forts to protect these Indians in their rights by expelling any of 

 the whites who ventured across the Mississippi River. Among 

 the participants in this work of expulsion were two soldiers, 

 who afterward became prominent characters in United States 

 history. Colonel Zachary Taylor and one of his lieutenants, 

 Jefferson Davis. There can be no doubt that their task of 

 keeping white men out of this territory was well done ; also 

 that the Indians acting upon the principles of true conserva- 

 tion, maintained a great abundance of game. 



In 1832, after their defeat in the Blackhawk War, the Sac 

 and Fox Indians were forced to relinquish the eastern por- 

 tion of their hunting grounds, which was thrown open for 

 white occupancy the following year. The stream of immi- 

 gration that slowly trickled into Clayton County was a feeble 

 one, very unlike the tidal wave that swept over Oklahoma 

 fifty-five years later. The early settlers in this part of Iowa 



