THE WILD TURKEY. 19 
of being disturbed. When the eggs are about to be 
hatched she rarely leaves them even for a short time, and 
will often permit herself to be captured rather than de- 
sert them. When the young are ready to appear, at the end 
of thirty days, she assists them in breaking their fragile 
prisons, and when they emerge she caresses them, dries 
them with her bill, and in the course of a couple of days 
helps them to totter out of the nest. 
As soon as they are able to move about she leads them 
in search of food, and exercises the greatest discretion in 
finding it for them, while she is equally zealous in pro- 
tecting them from their numerous foes. ‘The sight of a 
hawk causes her to give a prompt note of alarm, and on 
hearing this they scatter and hide in the long grass or 
under leaves, and remain concealed until the danger is 
over. Their color, which is a light-brown, with dark-brown 
markings on the head and back, is a most valuable means 
of guarding them from enemies, as it harmonizes so well 
with the hue of their surroundings that they cannot be 
readily seen. The mother is also very careful to keep them 
away from swampy places, as a wetting is most fatal to 
them. When they are about two or three weeks old they are 
able to fly well enough to seek refuge in trees at night, 
but they generally roost on the lower limbs. Being dili- 
gent seekers after food, they quit their perches with the 
first gleam of dawn and hie to the woods or fields in search 
of it. They are very fond of berries and insects, but as 
they increase in size they become omnivorous, and seem 
to equally relish grain, grass, grapes, beetles, lizards, 
tadpoles, pecan nuts, fruit, acorns, hickory nuts, and 
other mast. They may, as a general rule, be found 
seeking for pabulum in the newly cut stubble-fields each 
morning and evening, but during the heat of the day 
they prefer places where they can dust themselves, in 
order to destroy the wood-ticks which find a congenial 
home in their flesh, Sandy hillocks, much-travelled 
