

illustrating 



ILD TURKEY {Meleagris gallopavo), 

 which is probably the finest game bird 

 in the world, is the subject of one 

 of the six intaglio-gravure pictures 

 'Game Birds of America." 



WEDNESDAY DAILY READING IN THE MENTOR COURSE 

 PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION 



JMAGINE an old gobbler leading his 

 hens about the forest near some Puri- 

 tan settlement. They stretch their long 

 necks here and there over the leaves, 

 picking up acorns and chestnuts, when 

 suddenly one finds a grain of corn, and 

 another, and another, leading oflE in a. 

 straight line. Away go the turkeys 

 scrambling over one another, and the 

 greedy gobbler makes sure of his share. 

 The train of corn leads along through 

 dense underbrush, turns sharp to the 

 left and under an old log. Without no- 

 ticing what is beyond, the turkeys go 

 down through a trench, their heads to 

 the ground, and come up on the other 

 side of the log, where there is more grain 

 spread all round. After a few minutes 

 the corn is eaten, and the gobbler looks 

 around for a hole to get out by. He 

 finds that there are four dark walls sur- 

 rounding his flock, and overhead are logs 

 with space enough between to let in the 

 light, but not to let out the turkeys. 

 They walk around craning their necks 

 up at the light; for they have bad memo- 

 ries, and depend on sharp eyesight to 

 get them out of trouble. The trench 

 goes down under the log, and therefore 

 no light comes through it — a circum- 

 stance that the turkey does not think 



about. So the poor gobbler and all his 

 flock stay in the trap, because they do 

 not know enough to go out the opening 

 they came in by. 



The turkey does not come from the 

 Turkish empire; but is a distinctly Ameri- 

 can bird. The Pilgrim fathers when 

 they heard it say "Turk turk turk" 

 may have thought cf that name or it 

 may have been given by those adventur- 

 ers who first carried the bird to Europe. 

 Turkeys wre domesticated in Mexico 

 by the Montezumas, and specimens 

 were taken from there to the West In- 

 dies about 1520, and introduced from 

 the West Indies into Europe. Later the 

 European birds were brought to America. 

 Our domestic turkey therefore is a Mexi- 

 can bird, differing from the native turkey 

 of this region. 



Wild birds are now rare. In the south- 

 ern Adirondacks and even parts of the 

 West, where there aie still enough to 

 tempt the hunter, they furnish excellent 

 sport; for the old gobbler is a wise bird 

 when traps are forbidden. The usual 

 method of hunting is by tracks in the 

 snow, — a difficult sport, requiring especial 

 skill; for the turkey flies long distances 

 it pursued. In the West it has been 

 hunted on horseback with greyhounds. 



Copyright,- 1913, by The Mentor Association, Inc. 



