POULTRY. 
257 
in parties of from ten to a hundred, and search for food apart from the 
females ; while the latter are seen either advancing singly, each with 
her brood of young, then about two-thirds grown, or in union with other 
families, forming parties, often amounting to seventy or eighty individuals, 
all intent on shunning the old cocks, which, when the young birds have 
attained this size, will fight with and often destroy them by repeated 
blows on the head. Old and young, however, all move in the same 
course, and on foot, unless their progress is interrupted by a river, or the 
hunter’s dog force them to take wing. 
“ When they conic upon a river, they betake themselves to the highest 
eminences, and there remain often a whole day, and sometimes two, as 
if for the purpose of consultation. During this time the males are heard 
gobbling, calling, and making much ado, and are seen strutting about, 
as if to raise their courage to a pitch befitting the emergency. Even 
the females and young assume something of the same pompous demean- 
or, spread out their tails, and run round each other, purring loudly, and 
performing extravagant leaps. At length, when the weather appears 
settled, and all around is quiet, the whole party mount to the tops of 
the highest trees, whence at a signal, consisting of a single cluck, given 
by a leader, the flock takes flight to the opposite shore. The old and 
fat birds easily get over, even should the river be a mile in breadth, but 
the younger and less robust frequently fall into the water — not to be 
drowned, however, as might be imagined ; they bring their wings close 
to their bodies, spread out their tails as a support, stretch forward their 
necks, and striking out their legs with great vigor, proceed rapidly 
toward the shore ; on approaching which, should they find it too 
steep for landing, they cease their exertions for a few moments, float 
down the stream till they come to an accessible part, and by a violent 
effort generally extricate themselves from the water. It is remarkable 
that, immediately after crossing a large stream, they ramble about for 
some time as if bewildered. In this state they fall an easy prey to the 
hunter. 
“ When the turkeys arrive in parts where the mast is abundant, they 
separate into smaller flocks, composed of birds of all ages and both sexes, 
promiscuously mingled, and devour all before them. This happens 
about the middle of November. So gentle do they sometimes become 
after these long journeys, that they have been seen to approach the 
farm-houses, associate with the domestic fowls, and enter the stables and 
corn-cribs in quest of food. In this way, roaming about the forests, 
and feeding chiefly on mast, they pass the autumn, and part of the 
winter.” 
The season of courtship begins about the middle of February. The 
femait~ "ow separate from the males, whom they endeavor to shun, but 
by whom they are perseveringly followed. 
It is generally about the middle of April that the female begins to 
select a site, and arrange her rude nest, which consists chiefly of withered 
leaves, in some depression on the ground, amidst dense brushwood, or 
in such an obscure place as the locality affords. The eggs, like those 
of the domestic bird, are of large size, and of a dull cream-white, 
minutely freckled or dotted with reddish-brown ; their average number 
