170 
MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO. 
it is of a very simple structure, being composed of a 
few dried leaves. In this receptacle the eggs are depo- 
sited, sometimes to the number of twenty, but more 
usually from nine to fifteen ; they are whitish, spotted 
with reddish brown, like those of the domestic bird. 
Their manner of building, number of eggs, period of 
incubation, &c. appear to correspond throughout the 
Union, as I have recei ved exactly similar accounts from 
the northern limits of the turkey range, to the most 
southern regions of Florida, Louisiana, and the western 
wilds of Missouri. 
The female always approaches her nest with great 
caution, varying her course so as rarely to reach it 
twice by the same route ; and, on leaving her charge, 
she is very careful to cover the whole with dry leaves, 
with which she conceals it so artfully, as to make it 
extremely difficult, even for one who has watched her 
movements, to indicate the exact spot : hence few 
nests are found, and these are generally discovered by 
fortuitously starting the female from them, or by the 
appearance of broken shells, scattered around by some 
cunning lynx, fox, or crow. When laying or sitting, 
the turkey hen is not readily driven from her post by 
the approach of apparent danger ; but, if an enemy 
appears, she crouches as low as possible, and suffers 
it to pass. A circumstance related by Mr Audubon 
will shew how much intelligence they display on such 
occasions : having discovered a sitting hen, he remarked 
that, by assuming a careless air, whistling, or talking 
to himself, he was permitted to pass within five or six 
feet of her ; but, if he advanced cautiously, she would 
not suffer him to come within twenty paces, hut ran 
off twenty or thirty yards with her tail expanded, when, 
assuming a stately gait, she paused on every step, 
occasionally uttering a chuck. They seldom abandon 
their nests on account of being discovered by man, but 
should a snake, or any other animal, suck one of the 
eggs, the parent leaves them altogether. If the eggs 
be removed, she again seeks the male and recommences 
laying, though otherwise she lays but one nest of eggs 
