them nesting quite near farm buildings. Here they are protected 

 from their natural enemies, and from cats and trespassing gun- 

 ners, by skilled game keepers. In the absence of such care they 

 never could have been restored and in the absence of the 

 keepers, here as elsewhere, they soon would become extinct. 



The late Professor Blanton, of Richmond, Virginia, was the 

 first to breed wild turkeys commercially in America, and in 

 an interesting account of wild turkey breeding, written for 

 The Game Breeder's Magazine, he said he hatched some young 

 wild turkeys in a hotel room, using an electric light for his 

 incubator. The Woodmont Rod & Gun Club, of Maryland, 

 has reared large numbers of these birds for sport and had 

 about a thousand turkeys last season. This number easily 

 can be increased. Mr. Bridges, a member of the club, has 

 several hundred wild turkeys on his farm near Baltimore. 

 There are many commercial game farmers and some importers 

 who sell live wild turkeys and their eggs. These have sold 

 wild turkeys which have gone to breeders in the South and as 

 far West as California. 



The Game Breeders Association on Long Island, N. Y., 

 made some simple experiments with wild turkeys purchased 

 in Virginia. One hen which nested wild in the woods laid 

 ten eggs which were lifted by a game-keeper and hatched 

 under a barnyard fowl. The turkey persisted in laying and, 

 although her nest was robbed a second time, she brought off 

 a brood of seven or eight birds. Twenty-six eggs were hatched 

 from this bird which indicates that nature's records easily are 

 beaten when eggs are stolen and young birds are hand-reared. 

 From aU the experiments above referred to, the industry of 

 breeding wild turkeys for sport and for profit has received a 

 great impetus and I predict that the markets soon will be filled 

 with cheap wild turkeys since the tendency of sport is to overdo 

 things when it imdertakes game breeding. 



It is important to keep down the natural enemies of turkeys 

 and to wire the groimd enemies out from the rearing fields. 

 Do not make the birds too tame. Turkeys are easily domesti- 

 cated and when too tame for sport they will probably suffer 

 from the diseases which destroy our tame birds. The laws 

 should not compel the breeding of game birds "in captivity" as 

 some statutes read. The food of young wild turkeys is largely 

 grasshoppers; later they eat berries, and in the Autumn and 

 Winter acorns and mast of various kinds are the principal food. 

 Acorns are a staple and when plentiful they will keep the tur- 

 keys at home and when they fail the turkeys will migrate 



17 



