ASSOCIATION OF SEXES 123 



have never seen an old gobbler attempt to fight a 

 young one, from the egg to maturity. It is 

 wholly unnatural from the fact that the old birds 

 are never in a bellicose temper except during the 

 love season or gobbling time in the spring, when 

 jealousies arise from sexual instincts. Not in 

 any instance, however, have I known of one 

 turkey killing another. I have often seen two old 

 gobblers strut up to each other, blow, puff, and 

 rub their sides together. I watched, expecting to 

 see a crash, but there was not a motion to strike, 

 and this was in the love season while there was a 

 bevy of hens all around. They do not fight in 

 the summer, fall, and winter, but of course now 

 and then old gobblers will fight in the beginning 

 of the mating season. 



The young broods and their mothers do not 

 associate at any time with the old gobblers, ex- 

 cept as I have described, neither do they run 

 away from them in fear. If all that Audubon 

 and other writers say about the wild gobbler 

 were believed, he would be universally regarded 

 as the most bellicose and brutal villain in the 

 bird world ; for, according to various writers, he 



