538 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Oft Into The Back County Equipped For Anything That Flies or Runs. 
a part of the local game there is John Smith 
stalking the woods, trusty fowling piece in arm, 
like a genuine Dixieite out for a stroll through 
Southern swamp and forest fastness. John Smith. 
believing in passing good things around, tips off 
Sam, Tom and Cole, and so forth. But the 
original, like the turkeys themselves, came from 
Dixie. 
The turkey is a queer creature. In many ways 
a regal bird, in others the meanest, most low- 
down-son-of-a-gun you ever saw. I have been 
living here among them for nine or ten years. 
They feed within a few hundred feet of my 
porch. I can hear them often, on summer 
mornings, softly drooling as they forage through 
the young timber and cultivated fields. Wild 
turkeys are great fellows for peas, beans, and 
similar small grains which are often planted in 
the South. Having found a field of such stuff 
the birds are coming to regularly one can secrete 
himself in some commanding spot and observe 
their antics and table habits. I have heard 
along with that old gag about telling what a 
man is by the company he hits about with, that 
a man’s character is published by the way he 
handles table tools and eats. If this is true the 
character of his majesty the turk can be very 
easily determined. 
Eating, the turkey gobbler is a glutton, gor- 
mand, tyrant. These habits are not perhaps, so 
objectionable of themselves when we con ider 
the fact that the destiny of the turkey gobbler 
is usually to grace the dinner table for proud 
gunners. The gobbler ought to get fat. How¬ 
ever, the way the gobbler goes about collecting 
his fat is what shows him to be mean, low-down 
and ornery. 
It seems to be utterly foreign to wild turkey 
nature for the gobbler while consorting with the 
female of the species to do a scratch of work 
for himself. No division of labor for him! 
The ladies were put into this world for some¬ 
thing besides looking ornamental. And, be as¬ 
sured, the turkey gobbler is a pretty thorough 
task master, too. Of course, the old gobblers do 
not associate with the hens much after breeding 
season, which allows the down-trodden female 
to recuperate slightly from the burdens imposed 
by the husband before taking up the cross again 
for the sons. Having mated the gobblers ramble 
off by themselves. Why, I don’t know. Unless 
it is that the bird has a spark of gentility left 
in him, which tells him that he can help his 
family more by getting out than staying. Such, 
at any rate is the truth. For the hen usually 
has trouble enough scratching for the lusty ap- 
petited young gobblers (who early display the 
paternal trend of thought by picking on the 
young hens) without rustling fodder for “the old 
man” as well. 
Not a nice creature. Mistake in calling him 
“majesty.” Well, I don’t know. You see this 
is only one side. He has another side. And 
speaking from the human female standpoint, he 
fully makes up for his wickedness by the glory 
of his virtues—the same being calculated accord¬ 
ing to the human female point of view. 
He is handsome, for instance. There can, I 
think, be no bird which presents a more regal 
appearance than a turkey gobbler in full, shiny 
plumage, blood red wattles, beard finely laund¬ 
ered and tail expanded, moving beautifully with 
all the majesty of Caruso playing a king across 
some space of sunlight filtering through the can¬ 
opy of forest leaves. We all know that hand¬ 
someness is a very great virtue in gentlemen! 
Again, during the Lothario stage of his court¬ 
ship Herr Gobbler is tenderer than capon and as 
mushily loving as any novel hero you ever read- 
Turkeys seem to have a peculiar itchy spot on 
the skin under the chin. It may be on the order 
of cattle, which, when they have nothing bet¬ 
ter to do, will stand for hours licking each 
others necks and face. Chickens sometimes have 
itchy spots on their heads also. They will stand 
around while other chickens gently peck them 
on the itchy spot. Heaven only knows what 
they are doing. 
Well, turkeys have this too. But during court 
ing days the tables are turned. It amounts 
almost to a tragedy what some women will put 
up with so long as “he” kisses them once a year, 
say. 
