22 Bird Day Book 



£ 



WILD TURKEY. 



THE Wild Turkey once inhabited nearly one-half of the United 

 States ; and, considering the great size of the bird, the earnest- 

 ness of our efforts to exterminate it, and the very little that has 

 been done toward its protection, its survival today is cause for 

 wonder. It is yet found in a few heavily timbered regions in the 

 East and South — such as Florida, Alabama, the Virginias, Penn- 

 sylvania, and a few of the Southern states. It is doubtful if even 

 one flock exists in the North anywhere west of Pennsylvania. In 

 Oklahoma and Texas it still lives, but the gunners of the cattle- 

 ranches are fast killing off the few flocks that remain. 



The Wild Turkey is the king of upland game-birds. It has 

 been given to but a few hunters to seek this bird in its native 

 forests, witness its splendid flight, and afterward shoulder a giant 

 gobbler weighing from twenty-five to thirty-pounds for a ten-mile 

 carry. He who has done this, however, will thereafter rank this 

 bird as second to none on earth. In the United States only one 

 species exists, but three geographic races have been described. 

 The wild bird so closely resembles the domestic turkey that almost 

 the only difference observable is the white upper tail coverts of 

 the tame bird. 



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