THE WILD TURKEY. 125 



about in great numbers, and seize the squabs from their 

 nests at pleasure, while, from twenty feet upwards to the 

 tops of the trees, the view through the woods presents 

 a perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering multi- 

 tudes of pigeons, the sound of their wings roaring 

 like thunder, and mingled with the frequent crash of 

 falling timber ; for now the axe-men are at work, cutting 

 down those trees that seem to be most crowded with 

 nests, and contriving to fell them in such a manner 

 that in their descent they might bring down several 

 others, by which means the falling of one large tree 

 sometimes produces two hundred squabs, little inferior 

 in size to the old ones, and almost one mass of fat; 

 on some trees upwards of one hundred nests are found. 

 It is dangerous to walk under these flying and flutter- 

 ing millions, from the frequent fall of large branches, 

 broken down by the weight of the multitudes above, 

 and which in their descent often destroy numbers of 

 the birds themselves." 



The Wild Turkey of North America {Meleagris gallo- 

 pavo) is without doubt the parent stock from which the 

 domestic breed of our farmyards is originally descended, 

 notwithstanding the existing differences between the two 

 birds at the present day, and the scepticism that prevails 

 among so many on the point. 



It does not appear unreasonable to suppose that these 



