158 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



in the fall, where their favorite food has matured 

 and shed. 



One of the last seasons I spent in the vicin- 

 ity of the Tombigbee country in Alabama there 

 were no grapes or muscadines in the bottoms, 

 but a good pin oak crop of acorns, such as 

 the turkeys like. In the higher woods there was 

 a heavy black gum and berry crop, and there 

 the turkeys were, while in the oak bottoms there 

 was scarcely a flock. 



During the summer months, old gobblers, like 

 old bucks, having banded together, become very 

 friendly and attached to each other, feeding in 

 perfect harmony. They stroll together wherever 

 their inclinations may lead them, and are then 

 very shy and retiring. One seldom sees them 

 in the summer, but when they do it is generally 

 in an open prairie or old field, eating blackberries, 

 wallowing in an old ash hole, or chasing grass- 

 hoppers. These old bachelors do not get fat 

 until fall, although they have an ample supply 

 of food. They are lean and ugly and forlorn 

 looking until after the molting season is over, 

 in August and September, and their new bronze 



