WILD TURKEY. 
21 
•w'th England, as in Quebec, the early settlers made havoc 
1 the flocks, and drove into the wilderness those they did not 
^estroy. John Josselyn, writing in 1672, states that the bird was 
tl'irty years before it had been abundant ; but 
ably Turkeys were plentiful during part, at least, of the last 
^entury, though frequenting less accessible localities. They were, 
att"^T^'^’ gradually reduced in numbers by the combined 
o whites and Indians, and the lessened flocks contin- 
® retiring farther and farther from the settlements. 
^ Connecticut the year 1813 is given as that in which the last 
seen, while a few remained hidden among the hills of 
kno ^srmont until 1842; and the last Wild Turkey that is 
wn to have been seen in Massachusetts was shot on Mount 
in 1847. 
present day some small flocks are to be found in a few of 
IlH timbered and thinly populated districts of Michigan, 
inois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and in the wild moun- 
i^inous regions of the Southern States. A few may be hidden also 
gj ated forests in Louisiana and Mississippi ; but in all of these 
red number of birds must be small, and is being rapidly 
nowhere east of the Mississippi River are 
ti numerous, excepting in Florida, and in that State 
" Way continue numerous long after they have been extermi- 
co ^ ®^®®where, owing to the almost inaccessible nature of the 
the IVr^ remaining flocks have retreated. Beyond 
low these birds are still common, especially along the 
IVbsT (probably) in Indian Territory and southern 
Kans'a'^'' Colonel Goss reports them diminishing rapidly in 
of West, Wild Turkeys are plentiful ; but the major portion 
cinalf*^- Mexican form, which differs from the type prin- 
fpati ^ having the upper tail-coverts and the tips of the tail- 
ters whitish instead of chestnut. 
