THE WILD TURKEY, 209 



in the distance you heard a faint Putt — puttpiitt^ 

 and the sound of heavy wings in flight, and ran 

 dashing through dense ranks of beggar-ticks and 

 dodging around cat-briers in vain hope of a shot ! 

 If you had been still you might have had a shot 

 at one or more of them afterward, but your rush 

 and racket put that out of the question within 

 any reasonable time. Still, you enjoyed it all the 

 same and murmured something about its being 

 better to have loved and lost than never to have 

 loved at all. Which many a one has indorsed. 



A great day was that when, after practicing 

 on different kinds of turkey-call, you went out 

 to try them. The wing-bone you found to need 

 too much practice and coolness. It was more 

 easy than the rest to make a false note on, and 

 as you were sure to be nervous at the first trial 

 it was not safe to rely on it. For the same 

 reasons you abandoned trying to call with your 

 throat; and the green leaf and piece of thin 

 rubber in the mouth were equally unsafe. The 

 bit of cow-horn with a wooden plug and a nail 

 in it to be scraped on a whetstone came nearer 

 the requirements of a tyro ; but the little wooden 

 box with projecting edge to be scraped on the 



