642 
GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 
their retiring mates. The sexes roost apart, but in the 
same vicinity, and at the yelp of the female the gobbling 
becomes reiterated, and extravagant. If heard from the 
ground, a general rush ensues to the spot, and whether 
the hen appears or not, the males, thus accidentally 
brought together, spread out their train, quiver and de- 
press their rigid wings, and strutting and puffing with a 
pompous gait, often make battle, and directing their blows 
at the head occasionally destroy each other in a fit of 
jealousy. As with our domestic fowls, several hens usually 
follow a favorite cock, roosting in his immediate neigh- 
bourhood, until they begin to lay, when they withdraw 
from his resort, to save their eggs, which he would 
destroy if discovered. The females are therefore seen 
in his company only for a few hours in the day. Soon 
after this period, however, the male loses his ardor, and 
the advances of affection now become reversed, the hen 
seeking out the society of her reluctant mate. In moon- 
light nights the gobbling of the male is heard, at inter- 
vals of a few minutes, for hours together, and affords of- 
ten a gratifying means of their discovery to the wakeful 
hunter. After this period the males become lean and 
emaciated, so as to be even unable to fly, and seek to 
hide themselves from their mates in the closest thickets, 
where they are seldom seen. They now also probably 
undergo their moult, and are so dry, lean, and lousy, un- 
til the ripening of the mast and berries, as to be almost 
wholly indigestible and destitute of nutriment as food. 
So constant is this impoverished state, that the Indians 
have a proverb, “ As lean as a Turkey in summer” 
About the middle of April, in Kentucky, the hens be- 
gin to provide for the reception of their eggs, and secure 
their prospects of incubation. The nest, merely a slight 
hollow scratched in the ground, and lined with withered 
