112 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



genuine dude, and he will have admiration though 

 it costs him his life. He is a gay Lothario and will 

 covet and steal his neighbors' wives and daugh- 

 ters ; and if his neighbors protest, will fight to the 

 finish. He is artful, cunning, and sly, at the 

 same time a stupendous fool. One day no art 

 can persuade him to approach you, no matter 

 how persuasively or persistently you call; the 

 next day he will walk boldly up to the gun at 

 the first call and be shot. He has no senti- 

 ment beyond a dudish and pompous admiration 

 for himself, and he covets every hen he sees. 

 He will stand for hours in a small sunny place, 

 striving to attract the attention of the hens by 

 strutting, gobbling, blowing, and whining, until 

 he nearly starves to death. I believe he would 

 almost rather be dead than to have a cloudy day, 

 when he is deprived of seeing the sun shining 

 on his glossy plumage; and if it rains, he is the 

 most disconsolate creature on the face of the 

 earth. 



The methods employed by the wild turkey 

 hen in nesting and rearing a family do not differ 

 materially from those of the tame turkey. The 



