50 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



yard. They live in bands of from twelve to 

 twenty, feeding together by day upon nuts and 

 acorns, and flying up into a chosen roost-tree at 

 night. At the beginning of the breeding season, 

 however, these flocks disband, and the males 

 begin to gobble as they seek their mates. The 

 sound of their gobbling is usually heard early iji 

 the morning; it is associated in my memory with 

 perfumed banks of azalea bloom dripping with 

 clew. 



At this season the great gobblers rustle stiffly 

 about, displaying their plumes, and often fight to 

 see which shall be leader of a flock of admiring 

 hens. As soon, however, as those same hens are 

 safely retired to the secret places of the under- 

 brush, each with her precious clutch of freckled 

 eggs, the males forget their differences and go 

 foraging amicably together, leaving the hens to 

 bring up the new broods. But if young Wild 

 Turkey poults are as difficult to rear safely as 

 those of the domestic species, one wonders that 

 among so many enemies, rainstorms, and other 

 mischances, the most careful mothering ever en- 

 ables a family to grow up. 



RUFFED GBOITSE 



In former years on a tramp through the 

 mountain woods one was quite likely to be 

 startled by the sudden whirr of this bird's sud- 



