178 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



Then he lets his dress slowly down as the spas- 

 modic paroxysm subsides, listens, and looks, 

 gobbles a time or two, listens again, and struts, 

 and so on. If he sees no hen or hears no sound 

 resembling that which he desires, he begins to 

 calmly walk toward his feeding grounds, gobbling 

 at long intervals; he then usually stops for the 

 day. This applies to the first weeks of the gob- 

 bling season, and he is quite easily called then, 

 as it is too early for the hen to crave his atten- 

 tions; but later it all changes. 



The hens seek his presence as the procreative 

 impulses begin to stir them. The gobbler then 

 will take up a chosen territory in a certain piece of 

 woods, the most favorable to required conditions, 

 and roost in the vicinity nearly every night, 

 that is, in case he has secured a fair harem of 

 six or eight hens ; but if he is not so fortunate he 

 will run all about the country, having no special 

 place to spend the night. But now we are 

 contemplating the gobbler who has been so fortu- 

 nate as to secure a fair-sized harem, and has con- 

 fined himself to one locality, in which he will 

 peaceably and contentedly remain all the gob- 



