WILD TURKEY. 5 



tlie hens ai'e obliged to make all the advances themselves. They yelp 

 loudly and almost continually 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 towards the end of the love-season. The males now become 

 greatly emaciated, and cease to gobble, their hreast-sponge becoming flat. 

 They then separate from the hens, and one might suppose that they had 

 entirely deserted their neighbourhood. 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 dis- 

 tance. 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 acquainted with its habits. They 

 thus retire to recover flesh and strength, by purging Avith particular spe- 

 cies of grass, and using less exercise. As soon as their condition is im- 

 proved, the cocks come together again, and recommence their rambles. 

 Let us now return to the females. 



About the middle of April, when the season is dry, the hens begin to 

 look out for a place in which to deposit their eggs. This place requires 

 to be as much as possible concealed from the eye of the Qrow, as that bird 

 often watches the Turkey when going to her nest, and, waiting in tlie 

 neighbourhood until she has left it, removes and eats the eggs. The nest, 

 which consists of a few withered leaves, is placed on the ground, in a hol- 

 low scooped out, by the side of a log, or in the fallen top of a dry leafy 

 tree, under a thicket of sumach or briars, or a few feet within the edge of 

 a cane-brake, but always in a dry place. The eggs, which are of a dull 

 cream colour, sprinkled with red dots, sometimes amount to twenty, al- 

 though the more usual number is from ten to fifteen. When depositing her 

 eggs, the female always approaches the nest with extreme caution, scarcely 

 ever taking the same course twice ; and when about to leavt them, covers 

 them carefully with leaves, so that it is ver ' difficult for a person who 



