80 
WILD TURKEY. 
of authors, who have mistaken the Curassow for it. In Canada, 
and the now densely peopled parts of the United States, Wild 
Turkeys were formerly very abundant; but, like the Indian and 
Buffalo, they have been compelled to yield to the destructive inge¬ 
nuity of the white settlers, often wantonly exercised, and seek 
refuge in the remotest parts of the interior. Although they relin¬ 
quish their native soil with slow and reluctant steps, yet such is the 
rapidity with which settlements are extended and condensed over 
the surface of this country, that we may anticipate a day, at no 
distant period, when the hunter will seek the W ild Turkey in vain. 
We have neglected no means of obtaining information from 
various parts of the union, relative to this interesting bird; and 
having been assisted by the zeal and politeness of several indivi¬ 
duals, who, in different degrees, have contributed to our stock of 
knowledge on this subject, we return them our best thanks. We 
have particular satisfaction in acknowledging the kindness of Mr. 
John J. Audubon, from whom we have received a copious narrative, 
containing a considerable portion of the valuable notes collected by 
him, on this bird, during twenty years that he has been engaged 
in studying Ornithology, in the only book free from error and con¬ 
tradiction, the great book of nature. His observations, principally 
made in Kentucky and Louisiana, proved the more interesting, 
as we had received no information from those states: we have, in 
consequence, been enabled to enrich the present article with several 
new details of the manners and habits of the Wild Turkey. 
The wooded parts of Arkansaw, Louisiana, Tennessee, and 
Alabama; the unsettled portions of the states of Ohio, Kentucky, 
Indiana, and Illinois; the vast expanse of territory north-west of 
these states, on the Mississippi and Missouri, as far as the forests 
extend, are more abundantly supplied, than any other parts of the 
union, with this valuable game, which forms an important part of 
the subsistence of the hunter and traveller in the wilderness. It 
is not probable that the range of this bird extends to, or beyond, 
