WILD TURKEY. 165 
hi. i 
l;; , l ' l °sitics they had seen, and prepared a skin of one, to 
home for exhibition. 
1 lie wild turkey is not very plenty in Florida, Georgia, 
‘ the Carolinas ; is still less frequently found in the 
^tern parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania; and is 
'homely rare, if indeed it exists at all, in the remaining 
j[ rt Wn and eastern parts of the United States; in 
England, it even appears to have been already 
Cloyed one hundred and fifty years back. I am, 
to V V ever » credibly informed, that wild turkeys are yet 
found in the mountainous districts of Sussex 
J' rit y, New Jersey. The most eastern part of Pcnn- 
i lfa nia now inhabited by them, appears to be Lancaster 
He' lat y > and they are often observed in the oak woods 
i,,.' 11 ' Ebilipsburg, Clearfield county. Those occasionally 
^ght to the Philadelphia and New York markets, 
I’liiefly obtained in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 
. 1 he w iid turkeys do not confine themselves to any 
f, n 'Cul ar food ; they eat maize, all sorts of berries, 
*'<*■ grasses, beetles ; and even tadpoles, young frogs, 
Wl' nzards, are occasionally found in their crops ; but 
t 0 ner « the pecan nut is plenty, they prefer that fruit 
L i ! n y other nourishment; their more general predi- 
f llt ; l0 » is, however, for the acorn, on which they rapidly 
ij When an unusually profuse crop of acorns 
I, l >r °duced in a particular section of country, great 
r •ttbers of turkeys are enticed from their ordinary 
Hi ''"ts in the surrounding districts. About the begin- 
°f October, while the mast still remains on the 
t 0 Yj’ ^ey assemble in flocks, and direct their course 
d rich bottom lands. At this season they are 
T|'‘ 1, v <‘d in great numbers on the Ohio and Mississippi- 
q l " ! time of this irruption is known to the Indians by 
^ name of the turkey month. 
Hu i thules, usually termed gobblers, associate in parties, 
tt| bering from ten to a hundred, and seek their food 
from the females ; whilst the latter either move 
0, it singly with their young, then nearly two-thirds 
( °'yn, br, in company with other females and their 
tail ‘es, form troops, sometimes consisting of seventy 
