116 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



them to gobble or strut at this early age, al- 

 though the tame ones sometimes do. The gob- 

 bler's beard grows quite rapidly until the end of 

 the third year, and then slowly until eleven or 

 twelve inches long, when it seems to stop. It 

 may be owing to its wearing off at the lower end 

 by dragging on the ground while feeding; but a 

 close inspection will not substantiate this, for the 

 hairs at the extreme end of the beard are blunt 

 and rounding, and do not indicate wear from 

 friction. The young gobbler's beard is two 

 inches long by the end of November of the first 

 year of his life. By March it is three inches long 

 and stands out of the feathers one inch. At the 

 end of the second year is it five inches long, and 

 at three years about eight inches long. 



Hens have beards only in rare cases, but not 

 in one out of a hundred will a hen be found with 

 one and then never more than four inches 

 long. I have seen gobblers with two or three 

 beards, and one at Eagle Lake, Texas, with five 

 separate, long and distinct beards; but such 

 cases are freaks. I once called up and killed a 

 turkey hen on the banks of the Trinity River, in 



