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THE AMERICAN WILD TURKEY TURKEYHaunts Haunts and Habits of the Best and Largest Ameri ¬ can Game Bird The wild turkey is our largest and finest game bird lint with the spread of agriculture and the de ¬ crease in our forests it has been but natural that its range has been greatly restricted But as long as we have national and state forests there is no reason why we cannot preserve at least limited numbers of this fine game bird birdThere There are two species of the wild turkeys but one species is but little known for it is found only on the peninsula of Yucatan and a small portion of Guatemala and Honduras This southern species is smaller than the common wild turkey and the body feathers ure tipped with bright golden and coppery bronze and the head and wattles are deep blue covered with orange tubercles In its brilliant colors beautyThe it vies with some of the pheasants in beauty The common wild turkey Meleagris gallipavo was originally found from Maine and southern On ¬ tario to southern Mexico and varies so much in dif ¬ ferent parts of its range that five subspecies are described It is from the southMexico turkey that cur domesticated turkey lias descended the tail coverts and bands in the tail being gray while corresponding parts of the common wild turkey are a rich chestnut color colorThe The wild turkey was originally an inhabitant of the open woodlands of all the eastern states and as far west as Kansas and Oklahoma It is now ex ¬ terminated in New York and New England and is confined to the rougher and more remote parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia the larger swamps of the southern states and the thinly settled parts of the Mississippi Valley and is fast following the passen ¬ ger pigeon into history It 5 possible however to breed the wild turkey and several wild turkey farms are in existence The state of Pennsylvania is nuw striving to restock its wilder coverts and if these experiments are successful it is to be hoped that other states will follow followIn In habits the wild turkey is similar to the do ¬ mestic bird Except during the breeding season they live in small flocks of from six to twelve and usually roost in the same trees at night feeding upon acorns nuts etc At the beginning of the breeding season in March the flocks disband and the males begin to gobble Gobbling takes the place of the drumming of the grouse or the crowing of the rooster and usually is hoard only curly in the morn ¬ ing before the bird leaves the roost Turkeys are polygamous and frequently rival males engage in fierce battles the victor becoming lord of the harem After incubation begins the males lose their ani ¬ mosity toward each other and again flock together leaving the cares of the family entirely to the female bird
