e, when they turn
the body of the luckless swan upwards, and tear it open with their
talons.

Along all the coasts of North America, as also at the mouths of the
chief rivers, the white-headed eagle is found watching for his prey. An
instance is mentioned of one of these savage birds being entrapped, and
falling a victim to his voracity. Having pursued a wild duck to a piece
of freshly-formed ice, he pitched upon it, and began tearing his prey to
pieces, when the mass on which he stood continuing to freeze, his feet
became fixed in the ice. Having vainly endeavoured with his powerful
wings to rise in the air, he ultimately perished miserably.

THE WILD TURKEY.

The wild turkey, acknowledged to be the finest of game-birds, ranges
throughout the forests of the more temperate portions of America. It is
the parent of the valued inhabitant of our poultry-yards; and in its
wild state utters the same curious sounds which it does in captivity.
This superb bird measures about four feet in length. Its plumage,
banded with black, gleams with a golden brown hue, shot with green,
violet, and blue. Its head is somewhat small, and a portion of its neck
is covered with a naked warty bluish skin, which hangs in wattles from
the base of the bill, forming a long fleshy protuberance, with hairs at
the top.

The bird, in the States, is commonly known as Bubbling Jock, and is
called "Oocoocoo" by the Indians. The female builds her nest in some
dry, secluded spot, guarding it carefully, and never approaching it by
the same path twice in succession. When first her young are hatched,
she leads them through the woods, but returns at night to her nest.
After a time she takes them to a greater distance, and nestles them in
some secluded spot on the ground. At this time they are frequently
attacked by the lynxes, who spring upon them, knocking them over with
their paws.

The wild turkey wanders to a great distance from the place of its birth.
"About the beginning of October the male birds assemble in flocks,"
says Audubon, "and move towards the rich bottom-lands of the Ohio and
Mississippi. The females advance singly, each with its brood of young,
then about two-thirds grown, or in union with other families, forming
parties often amounting to seventy or eighty individuals--shunning the
old cocks, who, when the young birds have attained this size, will fight
with, and often destroy them by repeated blows on the head. When they
come