HABITS OF ASSOCIATION AND ROOSTING 161 



By these fights one gobbler establishes his 

 claim as lord of a certain range, which no other 

 gobbler will dispute during the rest of the season. 



Sometimes, though rarely, I have known an 

 old monarch to take a companion gobbler into 

 the very bosom of his harem, however strange 

 this may appear. I have known of half a dozen 

 instances of this nature where two old gobblers 

 have formed an inseparable alliance and remained 

 together staunch friends for years. Hens are 

 seldom seen in their company and they are ex- 

 tremely difficult to call. I hunted one such brace 

 three years, killing many other gobblers in the 

 long effort to bag these two ; never did I call them 

 within gunshot, until one day by some accident 

 they got separated, when it was no trouble to call 

 and kill one of them; the other is, for all I 

 know, alive now. 



Such fights as I have described break up the 

 social ring of old bachelors, and until the love 

 season is over each male takes up a range to him- 

 self, calling to his side as many of the females 

 within hearing of his voice as will come to him. 

 Several gobblers can be heard in the morning 



