WILD TURKEY SHOOTING. 



By George W. Bainbs ("Fusil"). 



^^HE Meleagris gallopavo is essentially an 

 }^ American fowl, and in these late years 

 has come to be a genuine southerner, 

 being found but seldom in sections 

 north of the historic Mason and Dixon' s 

 line. He flourishes also in Mexico and 

 Central America. 

 As this article is not designed nor desired to be a 

 treatise, I ^hall not take up space with facts and observa- 

 tions easily found in standard works on natural history 

 and in encyclopedias. The wild turkey is a turkey, 

 and compares with the domestic fowl about as a game 

 chicken does with the common mixed-blooded dunghill, 

 being a, trimmer and more symmetrical fowl, with longer 

 neck, wings, and legs. The wild turkey varies slightly 

 in color according to the various sections where found, 

 the lighter shades predominating as the equator is neared. 

 The hen is a dusty-brown color on the breast, neck, and 

 upper back, and the lower back is a dirty gray, or rasty 

 brown. The gobbler is about the same color of the hen, 

 except on the breast, neck, and upper back, Avhich are a 

 glossy, green-tinted black, or silky, purplish hue. Some- 

 times, as he stands in the sun, he appears to be a rich 

 bronze. Generally the heads of wild turkeys are light 

 bluish color, often more white than blue, especially with 

 gobblers in the spring, they having the power to change 

 color from blue to white or red at will. Both hens and 



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