146 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



Sometimes a ridge is an island at sundown when 

 they go to roost, but is covered during the night, 

 and when the morning comes there is no dry land 

 in sight for the poor birds to alight upon. This is 

 bewildering to them and presents a new state of 

 affairs. If there be an old mother hen in the flock, 

 she will at once take in the situation, and by 

 certain significant clucks and a peculiar cackle, 

 which is a part of their elaborate language, 

 she will take wing and fly two or three hundred 

 yards in the direction of dry land, alighting in the 

 trees, when, after a rest, with another cluck or 

 two, the party will continue in the same direc- 

 tion. This is kept up until the dry land is 

 reached, when, with wild acclaim and a general 

 cackle of exultation, they all alight on the ground 

 and proceed at once, at a fearful rate, to scratch 

 up the leaves in search of food. 



The hunter, aware of these habits after the 

 swamps begin to overflow, will lose no opportu- 

 nity for an early visit to the hummock at the mar- 

 gin of the backwaters. The turkeys do not re- 

 main near the edge of the overflow for any length 

 of time, but very soon extend their range farther 



