Coming within one congressional vote of being our national bird, the Wild Turkey instead became our Thanksgiving meal, and the population was widely exterminated throughout North America. Recent reintroductions have restored it, however, to much of its former range, and now it is hunted as a sport animal in many parts of the United States. Usually seen in small family groups as they noisily scratch in the leaf litter for seeds, acorns, fruits and insects, at night they roost together in mid levels of trees. The nest is a shallow depression hidden on the ground among grasses and low shrubs.
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