WILD TURKEY 49 



Southern writer, Mr. Lanier, once suggested that 

 the Wild Turkey would be a better choice for 

 adoption as our national emblem, instead of the 

 rapacious and quarrelsome Eagle; but, however 

 suitable to American ideals and character this 

 change might be, it is not likely to take place, for 

 the reason that this splendid game bird is being 

 killed off at a rate that insures its disappearance 

 from all but the wildest parts of its range. In 

 short, the Wild Turkey will probably be nearly 

 extinct before the general public becomes ac- 

 quainted with him. 



In past years one might come upon these 

 birds feeding over burnt areas of woodland, 

 picking up acorns and insects from the ground; 

 or one might hear the early morning gobbling 

 of the male at a favored roost, or the plaintive 

 kyonck-kyonck of the female. I have surprised 

 a whole family of the young poults walking 

 together in a quiet thicket, slipping away like 

 shadows as soon as my presence was known to 

 them. The wild gobblers even used to visit the 

 range of domestic poultry and consort with them. 

 But only the wariest mountain hunters, or those 

 in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, 

 and the wildest parts of the Southern Alle- 

 ghenies, can boast of seeing them in recent times. 



In their habits, the turkeys of the deep forest 

 are not very different from those of the barn- 



