JQ turkeys and pheasants. 
river, however, where the woods disappear beyond the conflu- 
ence of the Platte, the Turkey no longer appears ; and the 
feathers of the wings, for the purpose of pluming arrows, form 
an article of small commerce between the other natives and 
their Western countrymen. For a thousand miles up the 
Arkansas and Red River, in the wooded alluvial lands, they 
are not uncommon. They are met with in small numbers in 
Tennessee, Alabama, and West Florida, and are also abundant 
in Texas ; but none have been found in the Rocky Mountains 
or to the westward of them. From the Atlantic States gener- 
ally they are now nearly extirpated. According to Audubon, a 
few of these valuable birds are yet found in the States of New 
York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. 
The Wild Turkey is neither gregarious nor migratory, but 
from the necessity of wandering after food; it is otherwise 
resident throughout the whole of the vast region it inhabits, 
including the greatest diversity of climate, and it is prolific in 
proportion to its natural resources ; so that while in the United 
States and Canada it only breeds once in the year, in Jamaica 
and the other West India islands it is said to raise two or 
three broods in the same period. In quest of mast, these 
birds therefore spread themselves through the country and 
insensibly assemble in considerable numbers to the district 
where their food abounds. These movements are observed 
to take place early in October. The males, or gobblers, as 
they are often called, from their note, are now seen apart 
from the other sex in companies varying from ten to a hun- 
dred. The females move singly, or accompanied by their 
almost independent brood, who all at first assiduously shun the 
persecuting society of the selfish male. Yet after a while, 
when their food proves abundant, separate mixed flocks of all 
ages and sexes often promiscuously join in the bounteous 
repast. Their migration — very unlike that of the rapid Pigeons 
— is made almost entirely on foot until their progress is perhaps 
arrested by a river. Their speed, however, is very consider- 
able, and when surprised they more commonly trust to their 
legs than their wings, running nearly with the velocity of a 
