ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 6 



still as the grave. Then away off amoni; the 

 trees to the east of us, came the call note of 

 of the Turkey, ceoiik, ceouk, at first in- 

 distinct and low, and then louder and with 

 more confidence. Producing a caller, made 

 from the smaller bone of the first wing joint 

 of the Turkey, my father placed it to his 

 mouth and produced so good an imitation 

 of the call notes of the Wild Turkey that an 

 old hunter could not ha\e told the difference. 

 The call notes were now heard on all sides 

 of us, and we could hear the Turkeys getting 

 down out of the trees in every direction. In 

 a short time we could hear them cautiously 

 approaching the place where we lay con- 

 cealed and after a few minutes of intense 

 waiting aid watching several appeared in 

 view, but ihe distance was too great yet for a 

 sure shol. My father signed to me to hug 

 the ground, and again his caller rang out 

 ccouk, ceouk, ccouk. 



They now approached more rapidly, and 

 were soon at close enough cjuarters. Slowly 

 and cautiously getting the ends of our guns 

 over the log in our front, at once followed by 

 just enough of our heads, with hats remo\ed, 

 to glance along the barrels, our guns sjioke 

 at once, and two more Turkeys were writhing 

 and flapping in death's agony upon the ground. 



Again everything was quiet, and piling up 

 our dead Turkeys we decided on a still hunt, 

 each fellow for himself. Separating, we went 

 in different directions, and although I flushed 

 several Turkeys from the dense underbrush, 

 they were too ipiick for me, and got away 

 without injury. Hunting about for nearly 

 an hour without success, I was about to give 

 up the quest and return to our dead game, 

 when a shot a quarter of a mile away rang 

 through the woods, and in a few minutes 

 afterwards three Turkeys lit down in an open 

 space of the woods a hundred yards away. 

 Concealing myself behind a tree I waited till 

 they came within about sixty yards of me, 

 and then gave them both barrels at once. 

 Two of them again took to wing, but one 

 remained flopping upon the ground. In a 



short time mv father came uj) ; he had also 

 secured another one. This made six out of 

 the flock, which we estimated at about 

 twentv. \St had several times heard the 

 report of Cameron's gun, but could only con- 

 jecture in regard to what he was shooting. 

 He now, however, put in an appearance, his ■ 

 eyes shining and his whole demeanor indi- 

 cating excitement. He carried in one hand 

 a Mallaril Duck, and his first words were, 

 " I got him." 



"Got what?" we interrogated, glancing 

 rather contemptuously at his I )uck. 



"The finest Buck in the Illinois bottom," 

 he said. 



Gathering up our Turkeys we accompanied 

 him to his game, about half a mile away. It 

 was indeed a fine Buck, with great beautiful 

 antlers. He was shot squarely through the 

 body just behind the shoulders and had made 

 only a few jumps before he fell dead. Hang- 

 ing our game up to limbs of trees, we decided 

 to go to camp, load up everything, and drive 

 to the game, load it in the wagon, and then 

 go on to the foot of the lake and camp for 

 the night. This we did, selecting our camp- 

 ing place just as the sun was going down. 

 We were back in the timber about 200 yards 

 from the edge of the lake, but could see 

 glimpses of the water glistening through the 

 trees. The noise and fuss of the water fowl 

 we could plainly hear. Going out where we 

 could have an unobstructed view we were 

 surprised at the great numbers of water fowl. 



There were simjjly square acres of the 

 lake's surface, covered with Ducks, Geese and 

 Brant. Lower down and at the water's edge 

 on the opposite side there was a little llock 

 of a half dozen Pelicans. They loomed up 

 so large in the reflection of the setting sun 

 that they appeared like small white boats, 

 floating on the lake. 



The seniors of the party determined to 

 try for a shot at them. Slipping back to the 

 woods they went down the lake until they 

 got a large log lying near the water, be- 

 tween them and the Pelicans. 



