Feathered Folk 353 



wild state, also a wise provision against theft 

 by crows. A hungry crow indeed is the 

 most patient and most stealthy of all watch- 

 ers to the nest. A watcher of any sort must 

 beware the gobbler no less than the hen. If 

 the gobbler catches sight of you he sends a 

 special hoarse warning after the nesting hen. 

 When Black Mammy and Patsy heard that, 

 they turned and went straight home, waiting 

 there until another hen began to yelp — then 

 they set out upon a fresh and more strategic 

 hunt. Once a nest was found they did not 

 disturb its maker, but marked the place, and 

 went back to it later, to take out the eggs and 

 leave instead of them a hen egg. So long as 

 it stayed for nest egg, the turkey would keep 

 on laying. At first she laid every other day, 

 but towards the end, every day. Two hens 

 were commonly set upon the eggs laid by 

 three. Turkey hens were not so very hard 

 to break from brooding. Two days in the 

 coop, with plenty of stimulating feed usually 

 put the nest out of their minds. In a week 

 they would be laying again, but the eggs 

 were whiter, and of thinner shell, besides 

 seldom more than eleven in the clutch. A 

 hen broken from sitting a second time, often 

 stole a nest in September, and if she escaped 

 minks and foxes, came up with a peeping 

 brood of half a dozen just after frost. These 



