The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1898-01-19
WIT OF THE WOODS
SUCH IS THE DARKY'S SOBRlQUET
FOR THE WILD TURKEY.

FOR THE WILD TURKEY.
Species of American Game That IL
Gradually Growing More scaroc-The
Cock Teigns Lameness and the Young
Ones Pretend To lie Dead.
Indians call the wild turkey the wilt
If the woods It Is the most difficult
If game to approach. The most sclcn-
life method of killing it is by calling
Initiating its cry. This Is most eff
,acious In the spring. when the gobbler
;all to the hens necessarily In the early
morning and at intervals all through
he day The sound may be either a
owe note or challenge to a male. IN
either case II well done by the hunter
L will prove effective in bringing the
Ord near to Its hidden foe The best
turkey call Is made of the wing bone.
Sometimes IL consists only of bit of
slate and smoothed twig. The twig
when drawn across the slate gives
wonderful imitation of the birds
'checp TO call successfully requires
''hb III az Wv T. tabiIt iiitI utNhulF EO
expert that they need only broad
leaf held between the thumbs and APP
piled to the lips The challenge call"
is made in this way.
The gohbler tries hard to prevent the
hen nesting. He wants all of her time
and attention. lie must have an au-
dience for his strutting After many
attempts To escape and more than one
beating she will suddenly go violently
lame with a broken wing and a queer
leg. This Is a favorite trick of gal
linaceous females The quail does ii
often to lure marauders from her
young, The gobbler has no use at all
'or lame wife After prancing
around her for a little while and say
lgely striking her with his wing. he
lies himself away into deepest woods.
leart whole and happy
His patient spouse then makes her
nest in peace Her foes are active
md she needs all of her wonderful
power of secretlveness. Crows and
snakes are fond of her eggs The
intil the mother vacates 1t In search
II water and food and then carry
away the eggs one at a time While
nesting the hens many times fall vic
inns to foxes, wild eats. leopard cats,
ynNes or coyotes. The brood when
hatched must he guarded first of all
from the parent gobber 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 Il lowering hawk the chicks. at the
sound of peculiar cluck, will stretch
themselves upon the ground as If dead
while the mother fees to the under
growth. The hawk will not eat flesh
that he thinks is carbon AT sig
nal from the hidden mother the little
ones rise and seamper to her The
hawk is then out of sight.
Some of the things a wild turkey
does smack of the reasoning faculty.
For instance, a hen will never tread
upon the same ground in approaching
her nest She fears to make a path.
The ability of the birds to discover
danger can hardly be due wholly to
sight, phenomenal as it Is Possibly
they have a sixth sense \ turkey will
detect the movement of finger 100
yards away. Perfect stiffness Is the
hunters only chance. Some of them
declare that they are afraid to wink
one eyelash AS a table bird the wild
turkey is much superior to its domes-
ticated brother especially when baked
in the ground and steamed all night.
in its own royal juices.
Largest. most beautiful and wariest
Of our feathered game, he is not. like
the quail bird of civilization In
all of the northern and eastern states
that were once his hoMe he is becom-
Ing scarcer and more scarce. He
must have vast stretches of prlmeval
woods for his habitat When the
Beaten back, as the Indian was beaten
back by the advancing waves of white
men, he has retreated further and FUR
her to the south or west He is still
plentiful in some portions OF the Pacific
slope, but much of that land is too
bare to suit him. The turkey is not
sverse to mountains but prefers the
plains.
Southern negroes shoot wild turkeys
rom N-shaped blinds. The point of
he V is toward trench dug twenty
yards away. and in this trench parched
'orn has been scattered A trail OF
,orn leads to 1t. When the flock finds
L the heads of the birds become inter-
Iaced in their greed. and single shot
sometimes results in the death of
dozen of them. This is not tolerated
n Texas There no man is consid-
cred sportsman who shoots turkey
with anything other than rifle. The
.og trap is another method OF capture.
Singularly enough, no member OF the
galinaceous family, except the tame