WILD TURKEY. 245 
sometimes lead his master several miles before he can a second 
time jlush the same individual from his concealment; and 
even on a fleet horse, after following one for hours, it is often 
found impossible to put zt up. During a fall of melting snow, 
turkeys will travel extraordinary distances, and are often pur- 
sued in vain by any description of hunters ; they have then a 
long, straddling manner of running, very easy to themselves, 
but which few animals can equal. ‘This disposition for run- 
ning during rains or humid weather is common to all gal- 
linaceous birds. 
The males are frequently decoyed within gunshot in the 
breeding season by forcibly drawing the air through one of 
the wing-bones of the turkey, producing a sound very similar 
to the voice of the female ; but the performer on this simple 
instrument must commit no error, for turkeys are quick of 
hearing, and, when frequently alarmed, are wary and cunning. 
Some of these will answer to the call without advancing a 
step, and thus defeat the speculations of the hunter, who 
must avoid making any movement, inasmuch as a single 
glance of a turkey may defeat his hopes of decoying them. 
By imitating the cry of the barred owl (Strix nebulosa), the 
hunter discovers many on their roosts, as they will reply by 
a gobble to every repetition of this sound, and can thus be 
approached with certainty about daylight, and easily killed. 
Wild turkeys are very tenacious of their feeding grounds, 
as well as of the trees on which they have once roosted. 
Flocks have been known to resort to one spot for a succession 
of years, and to return after a distant migration in search of 
food. ‘Their roosting-place is mostly on a point of land jut- 
ting into a river, where there are large trees. When they 
have collected at the signal of a repeated gobbling, they 
silently proceed towards their nocturnal abodes, and perch 
near each other: from the numbers sometimes congregated in 
one place, it would seem to be the common rendezvous of the 
whole neighbourhood. But no position, however secluded or 
difficult of access, can secure them from the attacks of the 
