THE GAME BREEDER 



49 



was a wonder to all who visited our farm 

 last summer. I have some fine young 

 birds sired by him. I believe this old 

 Tom will return next spring if he escapes 

 the hunter. 



I have been a great hunter of wild tur- 

 keys in past years, killing up to thirty in 

 some years, but now no one could pay 

 me to kill the beautiful birds; they are 

 getting too scarce. It used to be a com- 

 mon sight about twenty years ago to see 

 thirty to forty in a flock ranging along 

 the foot of the mountains in the fields 

 where now we see none. Where there 

 was one hunter then there is one dozen 

 now, and with their repeating guns there 

 is no chance for the poor turkey. If the 

 government does not prohibit the hunt- 

 ing of them for a number of years there 

 will not be one left, and with the going 

 of the wild turkey our tame turkeys will 

 dwindle away, for now turkey raising is 

 almost a thing of the past all over the 



country, so we must get back where na- 

 ture started with the wild turkey to get 

 the vitality that has been lost through 

 breeding and feeding; for all other 

 breeds originated from the wild turkey. 

 The wild turkey crossed with the bronze 

 is the finest domestic turkey to be had. 

 The plumage is rendered more brilliant, 

 the carriage more graceful and the flesh 

 greatly improved, and having a yellow 

 skin they make a nicer appearance 

 dressed for the market. The wild tur- 

 keys of our Northern clime have more 

 vitality and can endure more exposure 

 than those of the Southern clime; our 

 winters being so severe with the tem- 

 perature 20 and 25 degrees below zero 

 at times. With snow two feet deep on 

 the mountain they must subsist chiefly 

 on the buds of trees. I have had half 

 wild hens to reach the age of twelve 

 years and be strong and vigorous and 

 still lay. This shows the wonderful 

 vitality of our wild turkeys. 



MORE CAT TALES. 



By Edward Howe Forbush. 



[The tales about cats printed in the April Game Breeder and continued in this number 

 are from an important bulletin written by Edward Howe Forbush, the State Ornithologist 

 of Massachusetts, and published by the State Board of Agriculture.] 



Vagabond or Wild House Cats in the 

 Country. 



Mr. William Brewster, of Cambridge, 

 the Nestor of New England Ornitholo- 

 gists, says he and his dogs frequently 

 have started cats from their resting 

 places in woods and game covers. He 

 says, writing from Concord, they are sel- 

 dom noticed, being shy, elusive and 

 largely nocturnal, but that he finds their 

 tracks everywhere in the woods after the 

 first snowfall. He asserts that his guides, 

 James Bernier and William Sargent, of 

 Upton, Me., trappers of large experience, 

 assured him some years ago that the 

 forested parts of New England with 

 which they were familiar were numer- 

 ously inhabited by woods cats. Quite as 

 many cats as. other fur-bearing animals 



were caught in traps even in locations 

 upward of thirty miles from any house 

 or clearing, and over. the northern Maine 

 line in the Canadian woods. 



Mr. Charles E. Goodhue, naturalist of 

 Penacook, N. H., says it is hard to tell 

 whether or not cats are vagrant or wild, 

 but local trappers get many in their traps, 

 and cats roam over the country in every 

 direction. Three trappers among my 

 correspondents corroborate this. Mr. 

 Nathaniel Wentworth, of Hudson, N. H., 

 former game commissioner of that State, 

 says that he has seen many cats, some- 

 times miles away from any house, and 

 feels sure that more game birds are killed 

 by them than by the hunters — an opinion 

 expressed by many others. 



Wm. C. Adams, a member of the Mas- 



