22 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



gobblers are in their best condition until about 

 the first of April, then they begin to lose flesh 

 very rapidly. At this time hunting them should 

 be abandoned altogether. 



In my hunting trips after this bird I have 

 covered most of the southern states, and have 

 been interested to note that all the Indians I 

 have met called the turkey "Furkee" or "Fir- 

 kee"; the tribes I have hunted with include the 

 Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and 

 the Cherokees, who live east of the Mississippi 

 River, and the Alabams, Conchattas, and Zunis 

 of the west. Whether their name for the bird 

 is a corruption of our turkey, or whether our 

 word is a corruption of their "Furkee," I am not 

 prepared to state. It may be that we get our 

 name direct from the aboriginal Indians. All 

 of the Indian tribes I have hunted with have 

 legends concerning the turkey, and to certain of 

 the Aztec tribes it was an object of worship. An 

 old Zuni chief once told me a curious legend of 

 his people concerning this bird, very similar to 

 the story of the flood. It runs: 



Ages ago, before man came to live on the 



