The wild turkey, like the mountain quail, has an up and down mountain migration. In the early spring the hens begin to work up the mountains and seek the densest jungles, and of course the gobblers follow them. The gobblers are polygamous, and have but little respect for their families. They will not only destroy the nests, but even the young birds. For this reason the hens are very secretive in nesting, taking as much care in hiding them away from the gobblers as from their other enemies. As soon as the hens begin setting the gobblers gather in flocks and remain by themselves until joined in the early fall by the hens and their half-grown broods. After this the flocks soon begin their migration to the lower hills and mountain openings, and congregate into immense roosts. Places were once to be seen where they had filled the trees for acres in such numbers as to break the limbs in many instances. In those times and localities they were too tame and too plentiful to afford much amusement to the man who hunted them for sport, but with the exception of some places in Mexico that day has passed, and the sportsman who hunts these grand game birds now will find a quarry worthy of his skill and affording him sufficient exertion to whet his appetite for the delicious feast they furnish him.
Both the habits and the habitat of the wild turkey make the sport of hunting them especially enjoyable. As soon as the gobblers are deserted by the hens they become more wary, and the crack of a twig or the sight of a man, be he ever so far away, and they at once seek cover. Then the keen eye and the noiseless tread of the still hunter is called upon for his best and most careful efforts, for the eyes of these gobblers are quick to catch the slightest move and their ears acute to the faintest sound. The curiosity of a deer often makes him hesitate long enough for the opportunity of a shot, but the gobbler, after the hens have left him, is no longer lured by curiosity. His business is to keep out of sight, and he can do it, after he has once learned the destructiveness of man, just a little more successfully than any other bird or animal that I have ever hunted.
There are no wild turkeys west of the Colorado river, nor on the peninsula of Lower California; but there can be no reason to doubt that, had the mountains of Arizona connected with the pines of the Coast range in San Bernardino county or with the Sierras of Inyo or Kern, the mountains of California would have been as well supplied with turkey as are its valleys with quail.
Color—The color of the wild turkey varies very much except in those that are found in the higher mountains and far away from civilization. Domestication of over three hundred and fifty years has not yet robbed the turkey of its love for the wild and they are often seen long distances away from the farms feeding contentedly. In countries where the wild turkey still existed these tame varieties of various colors have mixed with them, often to such an extent as to change the color very materially. I have seen flocks in Mexico ranging close to ranch houses with turkeys among them so light-colored that they were no doubt tame birds that had wandered away with their wild progenitors.
The wild turkey of Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado is a dark bronze bird with a light-colored rump, caused by the upper tail coverts being tipped with a broad sub-terminal band of white, narrowly tipped with black. The tail feathers are dark brown, spotted with black and tipped with white.
Nest and Eggs—The nest of the wild turkey is generally in a depression in the ground, high up on the mountains, and carefully hidden away in some dense thicket. I cannot call to mind ever seeing but two nests. One of these had but seven eggs while the other had seventeen. The markings are the same as those of the tame turkey.
Measurements—The total length varies from three to four and a half feet; wing 18 to 24 inches.
| MONGOLIAN PHEASANT (Phasianus torquatus) |
THE MONGOLIAN PHEASANT