-12- 
 
the 14 eggs being broken in the ensuing struggle. The hen escaped but the
observer 
noted she was sick for about a week. At the third nest the 0 eggs were gone
and a 
pile of feathers left at the nests  The 3 eggs in the fourth nest were broken
and 
eaten by an unidentified predator# 
 
Of the 3 abandoned nests one never returned from the nest after being flushed.

The hen in a second nest must have died away from the nest from some cause
after be- 
ginning to incubates The third nest was located near where road repairs were
being 
made and evidently there was too much disturbances 
One nest was found in each of the following locationss thick stand of small

li -e oak; tall grass and old weeds; black jack timber; rocky ledge in a
thicket of 
 
wild laurels on a hillside; a slope in tinok GUaJil y    -uD i  ,       I
  .. 
brush; dead tree lying over some brush; on a spot of high sloping ground
in a shin 
oak thicket; among some old dead troe tops and under out cedar brush. No
generali- 
zation of location can be drawn from these few instances. 
The difficulty in securing nesting records bears out the previous report
that 
under present ousting conditions the 1939 turkey crop probably will be very
small 
and might even approach the ;ero point. 
Management and Restorations 
A total of 53 feeding stations for turkeys were established, 45 of which
were 
reported as used. An estimate of the number of turkeys using'the feeding
stations 
was secured on 25 of the 45 stations. These estimates total 1,483 turkeys
or an 
average of 59 per station for each of the 25 stations. None of the wardens
report- 
ed any young turkeys feeding at the stations. 
There were 3300 pounds of mai. e seed and 54 bushels of corn used at the
feed- 
ing station up to July 10 when the program was discontinued because of general
rains 
over the area. Maize apparently has an advantage over corn for feeding purposes

since it is not necessary to fence it off from stock, deer, etc. 
The writer has received many comments on the feeding program from various

sources including ranchmen and wardens.   The opinion seems to be general
that ranch- 
men who operate shooting preserves should be willing to feed game in time
of stress. 
Several have seriously questioned the wisdom and success of such a program.

Some people feel that the turkey feeding program should have been begun during

the last half of January in order to induce early laying and produce a larger
number 
of eggs. This might have produced a larger crop of young turkeys if the hatches

had occured before water became too scarce for the very young turkeys to
reach it 
easily. Most poultrymen say that they must have water within 36 to 48 hours
after 
hatching. A possible criticism of this feeding program might be the danger
of con- 
centrating the turkeys so that they would become easy victims of their predators.

Harvester Ant Carrying Away Turkey Foods Harvester ants were observed carry-

ing away the maize seed at the Kerrville State Park turkey feeding station.
The fol- 
lowing observations of their activities were made between 5:00 A.i. and 7030
P.M. 
at two hour intervals on June 15.   Two nests were observed. One nesd did
not be- 
come active until the ground temperature reached 74 degrees F. and the other
at 83 
degrees F. which was at 7sO0 AM. Activity seemed to be at the peak about
9:00 A.M. 
when the temperature of the ground at one nest was 112 degrees F. and at
the other 
103 degrees F.  When the temperature of the ground reached about 123 degrees
F. 
which occurred between 9:30 AM. and 11:OOA.M. the surface activity stopped.
No 
further activity was observed until 5:00 P.M. when the temperature at one
nest was