WILD TURKEY. IO5 



hunting, as it is rarely a wing shot can be procured, for the turkey 

 soon takes to tree, and must be sought out, like the ruffed grouse 

 when in similar position. Like the grouse, too, it remains per- 

 fectly immovable, and is overlooked. 



It is in early spring, and early in the morning, when the gob- 

 blers are saluting each other from the different tree-tops, that a 

 good hunter may expect sport. Then his success depends upon 

 his skill in threading the tangled thicket without noise, and in 

 nearing the wary bird unperceived. If he wishes to bring that bird 

 to bag, he must mave with the rapidity of a deer, when necessary, 

 and at times stand motionless as a stump ; for there is no more 

 suspicious bird than an old gobbler that knows that he is inform- 

 ing a whole forest of his presence. It may be unsportsmanlike ; 

 it may be pot-hunting ; but there is a deal of satisfaction in seeing 

 a plump fifteen-pounder drop from his airy perch at the report of 

 your gun — especially when you need his presence in camp. Frank 

 Forester says, " that, though he is always delighted to see a well 

 roasted turkey on the board, especially if well stuffed with truffles 

 and served up with well dressed bread sauce, he would not give 

 the least palatable mouthful of him— no, not his ungrilled gizzard 

 — to pot-hunt a thousand in such a style." But then he never 

 shot one. The weight of the hen turkey, full grown, should be 

 about ten pounds. Gobblers, from fifteen to twenty ; though in- 

 stances are related of the capture of thirty-five pounders. Though 

 a full grown bird will carry away a heavy load in the body, a 

 charge of an ounce and a half of number two shot, backed by 

 three drachms of good powder, well placed in the neck or head, 

 ■will always prove effective. Even number eight shot have proved 

 too much for young males, though hunters generally prefer 

 buck-shot. 



When full grown, the wild turkey averages probably twenty 

 pounds in weight, and he not unfrequently is found weighing as 

 high as twenty-five or six. 



The plumage is very dark, nearly black in many cases, and 

 glossy; the usual color is a bronze deepening into greenish black. 

 The hens are duller in color than the gobblers. 



A pair of turkeys raise from ten to twenty young in a season. 

 So wary and watchful are they that it is seldom an opportunity 



5*^ 



