of the Turkey. 71 
they wifh by rifing from bough to bough. In a 
wild ftate they get to the very fummit of the 
loftieft trees, even fo high as to be beyond the reach 
of the mufquet 
Gregarious. In the ftate of nature they go in flocks even of 
five hundred -f, feed much on the fmall red acorns, 
and grow fo fat in March that they cannot fly 
more than three or four hundred yards, and are 
foon ran down by a horfeman. In the unfre- 
quented parts bordering on the Mijjijipi , they are 
fo tame as to be fhot with even a piftol J. 
Haunts. They frequent the great fwamps § of their 
native country, and leave them at lun-rifing to 
repair to the dry woods in fearch of acorns and 
berries ; and before fun-fet retire to the fwamps 
to rooft. 
The flefh of the wild Turkey is faid to be fu~ 
perior in goodnefs to the tame, but redder. Eggs 
of the former have been taken from the neft, and 
hatched under tame Turkies. The young will 
ftill prove wild, perch feparate, yet mix and breed 
together in the feafon. The Indians fometimes 
ufe the breed produced from the wild as decoy 
birds to feduce thofe in a ftate of nature within: 
their reach | J* 
LAWSON, 45. 
f adair’s Amer. 360, 
t lawson, 149. 
§ It is in the fwamps that the loftieft and moft bulky trees are. The wet with 
which they are environed makes them a fecure retreat. 
B lawson, 149. 
Wild 
