Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-20
IWlT OF THE WOODS
The Wild Turkey Gradually Growing More
Scarce.
The Cock Feigns Lameness and the
Young OEes Pretend to Be Dead
keen Hearing.

keen Hearing.
From the Chicago Times Herald
Indians call the wild turkey the wit of
the woods" 1t is the most difficult of
game to approach. The most scientific
method of killing 1t is By "calling'-imitat-
ing its cry. This Is NEST ef11cacious in the
spring. when the gobblers call to the hens
necessarily in the early morning and at
intervals all through the day. The sound
may be either love note OF challenge to
male. In either case If well done by the
hunter it will prove effective in bringing
the bird near to its hidden foe The best
turkey call is made of the wing bone.
Sometimes it consists only of bit of slate
and smoothed twig. The twig when
drawn across the slate gives wonderful
imitation of the birds 'cheep." To call
successfully requires long practice. Some
men become SO expert that they need only
broad leaf held between the thumbs and
applied to the lips. The challenge CALI
is made in this way.
The gobbler tries hard to prevent the
hen nesting. He wants all of her time and
attention. He must have an audience for
his struttiEg. After many attempts to
escape and more than one beating she will
suddenly go violently lame, with a broken
wing and queer leg. This is favorite
trick of sallinaceous females. The quail
does 1t often to ure marauders rom her
young. The gobbler has use at all for
a lame wife. After prancing around her
for little while and savagely striking her
with his wing, he HES himself away into
deepest woods. heart whole ana happy.
His patient spouse then makes her Lest
In peace. Her foes are active and she
reeds all Of her wonderful power of secre-
tiveness. Crows and snakes are fond of her
eggs. The crow, if he discovers the !. est,
will wait until the mother vacates It in
search of water and food and then carry
away the eggs one at time. While nest
ing the hens many times fall victims to
foxes. wild cats leopard cats, lynxes or
coyotes. The brood when Matched must
be guarded first of all from the parent
sobbler II he finds it he will decapitate
the chicks one after another with his
strong beak. This is jealousy Caught in
an open space by lowering hawk the
chicks, at the sound of n peculiar cluck.
VIII !. stretch themselves upon the ground
underground. The hawk will not eat flesh
that he thinks is carrion. At a signal from
the hidden mother the little ones rise and
sight.
Some of the things a wild turkey does
smack of the reasoning faculty. For In
stance, a hen will never tread upon the
same ground in approaching her nest She
fears to make path. The ability of the
birds to discover danger can hardly be due
wholly to sight. phenomenal as 1t is. Pos
slDiy they have sixth sense. A turkey
VIII detect the movement Of finger 100
yards away. Perfect stiffness is the hunt
ers only chance. Some of them declare that
they are afraid to wink one eyelash. AS a
taDie bird the wild turkey is much su-
perior TO its domesticated brother especiaI-
~ when baked in the ground and steamed
all night In its own royal Juices
Largest, most beautiful and wariest of
o our ieat mere game: he is not, like the
Iuau, oiro OF civilization. In all of the
northern and eastern states that were once
MS nome he Is becoming scarcer and more
sc arce. lie must have vast stretches of
pr'meval woods for his habitat When the
pees are Ieiied ne dies or goes away.
beaten back. as the Indian was beaten
pack, by the advancing waves of white
men, he has retreated further and further
to the south of west He is still plentiful
IN some portions OF the Pacific slope, but
much of that land is too bare to suit him.
me turkey is not averse to mountains but
p'efefs the plains. l believe that OF all
parts OF this country where he may still be
round IN moderate numbers he Is more COM
non in the Rio Grande region. Even there
ne is being hunted too much and countless
fiocks have been driven across the river
into the wilder parts of Mexico.
1t is characteristic of the turkey that he
can rise for flight when hard pressed only
three times In succession. His first flight
will probably take him a quarter of a mile
and when he hits the ground the pony and
Iiuer Will DC not more tndn 100 yards be-
hind him, If so far. The next time he will
fly not more than 100 yards, and the next
not more than forty. He makes two or
three spasmodic hops after that, but is
barely able to rise from the earth, and then
trusts to his legs.
Southern negroes shoot wild turkeys from
V-shaped blinds. The point of the is to-
ward trench dug twenty yards away, and
In this trsnch parched corn has been scat
tered. A trail of corn leads up to 1t. When
the flock finds 1t the heads of the birds be-
come interlaced in their greed, and a sin
gle shot sometimes results in the death of
dozen of them. This is not tolerated in
Texas. There no man is considered a
sportsman who shoots turkey with any
thing other than rifle. The log trap is
another method of capture. Singularly
enough, no member of the gallinaceous
family, except the tame chicken, will look
down in an attempt to escape from an in
closure. The turkeys are 'tolled'' inside
of the pen by means of corn. They enter
through passageway cut in the ground
under the bottom log. Finding themselves
imprisoned, they rush madly round and
round until exhausted. looking always for
an opening at the top. Quail and grouse
may be captured in the same fashion.