ending in bloodshed, and often in the loss of many lives, the weaker falling
under the repeated blov/s inflicted upon their head by the stronger.
I have often been much diverted, while watching two males in fierce
conflict, by seeing them move alternately backwards and forwards, as
either had obtained a better hold, their wings drooping, their tails partly
raised, their body-feathers ruffled, and their heads covered with blood.
If, as they thus struggle, and gasp for breath, one of them should lose
his hold, his chance is over, for the other, still holding fast, hits him violently
with spurs and wings, and in a few minutes brings him to the
ground. The moment he is dead, the conqueror treads him under foot,
but, what is strange, not with hatred, but with all the motions which he
employs in caressing the female.
When the male has discovered and made up to the female (whether
such a combat has previously taken place or not), if she be more than
t one year old, she also struts and gobbles, turns round him as he continues
strutting, suddenly opens her wings, throws herself towards him,
as if to put a stop to his idle delay, lays herself down, and receives his
dilatory caresses. If the cock meet a young hen, he alters his mode of
procedure. He struts in a different manner, less pompously and more
energetically, moves with rapidity, sometimes rises from the ground, taking
a short flight around the hen, as is the manner of some Pigeons, the
Iled-breasted Thrush, and many other birds, and on alighting, runs with
all his might, at the same time rubbing his tail and wings along the
ground, for the space of perhaps ten yards. He then draws near the
timorous female, allays her fears by purring, and when she at length
assents, caresses her.
When a male and a female have thus come together, I believe the connexion
continues for that season, although the former by no means confines
his attentions to one female, as I have seen a cock caress several
hens, when he happened to fall in with them in the same place, for the
first time. After this the hens follow their favourite cock, roosting in
his immediate neighbourhood, if not on the same tree, until they begin
to lay, when they separate themselves, in order to save their eggs from
the male, who would break them all, for the purpose of protracting his
sexual enjoyments. The females then carefully avoid him, excepting
during a short period each day. After this the males become clumsy
and slovenly, if one may say so, cease to fight with each other, give up
gobbling or calling so frequently, and assume so careless a habit, that
the hens are obliged to make all the advances themselves. They yelp
loudly and almost continually for the cocks, run up to them, caress them,
and employ various means to rekindle their expiring ardour.
Turkey-cocks when at roost sometimes strut and gobble, but I have
more generally seen them spread out and raise their tail, and emit the
pulmonic puff, lowering their tail and other feathers immediately after.
During clear nights, or when there is moonshine, they perform this
action at intervals of a few minutes, for hours together, without moving
from the same spot, and indeed sometimes without rising on their legs,
especially towards the end of the love-season. The males now become
greatly emaciated, and cease to gobble, their breast-sponge becoming flat.
They then separate from the hens, and one might suppose that they had
entirely deserted their neighbourhood. At such seasons I have found
them lying by the side of a log, in some retired part of the dense woods
and cane thickets, and often permitting one to approach within a few
feet. They are then unable to fly, but run swiftly, and to a great distance.
A slow turkey-hound has led me miles before I coidd flush the
same bird. Chases of this kind I did not undertake for the purpose of
killing the bird, it being then unfit for eating, and covered with ticks,
but with the view of rendering myself acquainted with its habits. They
thus retire to recover flesh and strength, by purging with particular species
of grass, and using less exercise. As soon as their condition is improved,
the cocks come together again, and recommence their rambles.
Let us now return to the females.
About the middle of April, when the season is dry, the hens begin to
look out for a place in which to deposit their eggs. This place requires
to be as much as possible concealed from the eye of the Crow, as that bird
often watches the Turkey when going to her nest, and, waiting in tl»e
neighbourhood until she has left it, removes and eats the eggs. The nest,
which consists of a few withered leaves, is placed on the ground, in a hollow
scooped out, by the side of a log, or in the fallen top of a dry leafy
tree, under a thicket of sumach or briars, or a few feet within the edge of
a cane-brake, but always in a dry place. The eggs, which are of a dull
cream colour, sprinkled with red dots, sometimes amount to twenty, although
the more usual number is from ten to fifteen. When depositing her
eggs, the female always approaches the nest with extreme caution, scarcely
ever taking the same course twice ; and when about to leave them, covers
them carefully with leaves, so that it is ver ' difficult for a person who