50 AMERICAN" GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



by the hostess, and we crowned our labor with a feast fit 

 for the daintiest of epicures, for the bird was in the 

 finest condition. 



Lying in ambush, and alluring turkeys to it by ap- 

 pealing to their erotic feelings, may not be the highest 

 form of sport, yet it is far superior to grouse-shooting on 

 preserved moors, or pheasant battues, which are really a 

 " slaughter of the innocents." It is not pulling a trig- 

 ger and bagging a bird that constitutes true sport — that, 

 really, ought to be the secondary consideration — it is the 

 opportunity which a love of the gun affords for rambling 

 amidst delightful scenes and of communing with nature 

 in her various moods. What can be more interesting 

 than to ride on horseback, day after day, from sunrise 

 to sunset, over hills and through woods and valleys, and 

 camp each evening in some wild or picturesque nook, or 

 seek shelter in a lonely farm-house, where eternal hospi- 

 tality reigns and every wayfarer is made welcome. 

 When a party of men start out on a turkey-hunting 

 expedition, they may travel for days without meeting a 

 flock, in some regions, whereas they may be able to dis- 

 charge their guns twenty times a day in others. It is 

 the uncertainty of finding, and the difficulty of outwit- 

 ting, the birds that makes rheir pursuit so infatuating 

 to true sportsmen, and not the mere killing; hence, the 

 enthusiasm of successful turkey-hunters is quite pardon- 

 able. The gobble of the bird is a blood -quickening song, 

 which some men love better than any refrain in an opera; 

 while the death of a male adult makes them feel like 

 victorious generals. That the pursuit of the bird is very 

 attractive is quite evident, when we consider that men 

 are willing to "rough" it, in the literal sense of the 

 word, by riding fifteen or twenty miles a day over 

 mountains, across streams, through dense forests and al- 

 most impenetrable thickets, and pull down and put uj) 

 fences for the sake of bagging a gobbler. 



