110 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



this purpose than are the solid primeval forests, 

 inasmuch as they afford a great variety of sum- 

 mer food, such as green, tender herbage, berries 

 of many kind, grasshoppers by the million, and 

 other insects in which the turkeys delight. Such 

 a country also affords good nesting retreats, with 

 brier-patches and straw where the nest may 

 be safely hidden, and where the young birds may 

 secure safe hiding places from animals and birds 

 of prey; but alas! at present not from trappers, 

 baiters, and pot hunters. Check these, and the 

 abandoned plantations of the South would soon 

 be alive with turkeys. 



