GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 263 



effects of rain on her young, which seldom survive if thoroughly wetted at this tender age, when their 

 only covering is a soft, delicate, hairy down. In about fourteen days the young birds, which till this 

 time had rested on the ground, are able to fly to some low branch, and pass the night under the 

 sheltering wings of their mother. A little later they leave the woods during the day, and search the 

 prairies and glades for berries of various kinds, and grasshoppers. The young now rapidly increase in 

 size and strength, and about the month of August are able to escape the attacks of their four-footed 

 enemies by rising from the ground to the highest branches of the trees. About this time young and 

 old assemble together and begin their pilgrimage. 



Wild Turkeys will sometimes feed and associate with tame ones, whose owners are glad to 

 welcome them, the half-breed being much the most hardy, and easily reared. 



" While at Henderson," says Audubon, " I had among other birds a fine male Turkey, which had 

 been reared from its earliest youth under my care, it having been caught by me when probably not 

 more than two or three days old. It became so tame that it would follow any person who called it, 

 and was the favourite of the little village ; yet it would never roost with the tame Turkeys, but 

 regularly betook itself at night to the roof of the house, where it remained till dawn. When two 

 years old it began to fly to the woods, where it remained for a considerable part of the day, returning 

 to the enclosure as soon as night approached. It continued this practice until the following spring, 

 when I saw it several times fly from its roosting-place to the top of a high cotton tree on the Ohio, 

 from which, after resting a little, it would sail to the opposite shore, the river being nearl}' half a mile 

 wide, and return towards night. One morning I saw it fly oft" at a very early hour to the woods, in 

 another direction, and took no particular notice of the circumstance. Several days elapsed, but the 

 bird did not return. I was going towards some lakes near Green River, to shoot, when having 

 walked five miles I saw a fine large gobbler cross the path before me, moving leisurely along. 

 Turkeys being then in prime condition for the table, I ordered my dog to chase it and put it up. The 

 animal went off with great rapidity, and as it approached the Turkey, I saw with much surprise that 

 the latter paid little attention. Juno was on the point of seizing it, when she suddenly stopped and 

 turned her head towards me. I hastened to them, but you may easily conceive my surprise when I 

 saw my own favourite bird, and discovered that it had recognised the dog and would not fly from it, 

 although the sight of a strange dog would have caused it to run off at once." 



The 'Wild Turkeys do not restrict themselves to any particular kind of food, but prefer the winter 

 grape and the pecan-nut, being found in the gi-eatest numbers where these are plentiful. They eat 

 grass and various herbs, corn, berries, fruit, insects, tadpoles, and small lizards. When walking, these 

 birds often open their wings a little, folding them again over each other, as if their weight were too 

 great, then run a short distance, spreading their pinions and fanning their sides after the manner of the 

 Domestic Fowl, then leaping two or three times into the air, and shaking themselves. While searching 

 for food they keep the head raised, and are always on the watch, meanwhile scratching with their feet, 

 and snatching up at once with the beak any prey which they may have found. In summer they roll 

 themselves in the dust of roads or ploughed fields to clear themseh'es from ticks. After snow, when 

 the ground becomes hard, the Turkeys will remain on their sleeping-places without food for three 

 or four days, but sometimes venture into farmyards to the stacks of corn and stables, in search 

 of grain. During falls of melting snow they run to surprising distances, and with such rapidity that 

 no horse can keep up with them ; late in the spring, however, their strength is not so great, and 

 a good dog is able to overtake them. 



With the exception of man, the most formidable enemies of the ^^'ild Turkey are the lynx, 

 the Snowy Owl, and the Virginian Owl. The lyn.x pursues both old and young, sucks their eggs, and 

 does them great injury. The Owls attack them when roosting on the branches of trees, hovering 



