TURKEYS. 163 



server. The general tints of the gobbler— for he is a far handsomer bird than 

 the hen, and generally twice the latter's size — are purple and a deep, rich brown, 

 with various shades of gold and violet colors gleaming upon his close-lying 

 plumage as the sunlight plays upon its surface. The head and neck, when bare 

 of feathers, are of a darker blue than in the tame variety, whilst the tuft, re- 

 sembling horsehair, which hangs from the breast, often measures, in full-grown 

 males, nearly a foot. 



" If the weather is mild and warm towards the end of February, the forests, 

 just before and at daybreak, are filled with the gobblings of the cocks and the 

 responsive duckings of the hens ; and this continues through March and April. 

 By the close of the latter month the clucking has almost entirely ceased, as the 

 hens are upon their nests, which they keep carefully concealed from the gob- 

 blers. ' These latter, at this time, worn out with their amorous duties and bat- 

 tles with their rivals, are nearly mute ; and now, having nothing to fight about, 

 and being weak and thin, wander about by themselves through the summer, too 

 worthless for powder and shot. So poor are they that they have given rise to an 

 Indian proverb, 'As poor as a turkey in summer.' 



" The hen generally makes her nest some two or three hundred yards from 

 the edge of the forest, in the prairie, and never veiy far from water, to which, 

 being a thirsty bird, she makes about three visits a day — in the morning, at noon 

 and in the evening. Prairie sloughs, which run out some distance from the 

 main timber into the prairies, and which have some little timber upon them, are 

 favorite nesting-places, as she can steal from the forest, under the shelter of the 

 straggling timber, undetected by the gobblers, gain her nest on the prairie, and 

 sit in peace ; as the gobblers at this time, poverty-stricken and ashamed of them- 

 selves, seek the thickest parts of the woods to hide in, and rarely venture into 

 the open. But, poor or fat, whenever the cock finds a nest he breaks it up, and 

 he never neglects to break the skulls of all the young chicks he comes across. 



"The chicks, when hatched, are very small, and covered with a more hairy 

 covering than the down which young chickens have. If the season be a 

 dry one they thrive very fast, as insect food is abundant; but whenever it is a 

 wet season the young ones ' fare but middling,' as they are particularly tender, 

 and are easily killed by damp, chilly weather. Upon the di-yness of the season, 

 therefore, the turkey-hanter builds his hopes of the plentifulness of his game. 



" By October the young birds have become nearly grown, and able to take care 

 of themselves ; the hens haveTecovered theflesh which they had lost by sitting, 

 whilst leading their young in pursuit of the myriads of grasshoppers which 

 swarm on a southern prairie during the summer; and the gobblers having picked 

 up their good condition by feeding upon wild grapes, blackberries, mulberries, 

 nuts, grubs, and the thousand-and-one treasures scattered through the forest; 

 and so, all feeling strong and fat, they gradually join their forces and form ' gangs' 

 M the backwoodsmen call them, often consisting of a hundred individuals or 

 more in each gang. From this 'gathering of the clans,' October is named the 

 'Turkey month' by the Indians. 



" At this season the turkeys wander over a great extent of country in search 

 of 'mast,' remaining in one place only so long as the acorns, pecan-nuts, and 

 other food remain plentiful; and when these are exhausted they move on in 



