Lovett E. Williams, Jr.

Thirty-five turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hens were instrumented with miniature animal tracking transmitters on a study area in March 1968. Twenty nests were found by directional radio location fixes and one nest was found incidentally. Average clutch size was 9.6 eggs per nest in fourteen nests which were observed after incubation began. Eight nests produced 70 poults from 76 eggs. The other nests failed to hatch because of predation or abandonment due to human disturbance associated with the study. Two incomplete nests contained four and six eggs when they were abandoned, one due to human...

A new hypnotic agent which is especially potent in birds was tested on free-feeding wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in Florida by oral administration on baits. One hundred thirteen were narcotized sufficiently to be captured. At the optimum dosage (4 grams of powdered drug per cup of bait) the first evidences of narcosis were noted almost immediately and some turkeys were captured within 3 minutes after beginning to feed. Narcosis wore off after 8 hours even in the more heavily drugged individuals. Mortality from overdosage was less than 3 per cent at optimum dosage levels. The new drug...