53 AMEEICAlSr GAME BIRD SHOOTIKG. 



I hare souglit them occasionally under various condi- 

 tions and witli different degrees of success, and I can say 

 that I never returned from a trip after them, whether for- 

 tunate or otherwise, v/ithout feeling improved mentally 

 and physically, and having a more exalted opinion of 

 them, as the monarchs of the American game-birds — 

 they having every essential quality necessary to win the 

 admiration of sportsmen who like to work for their tro- 

 phies. To show how readily they may be killed where they 

 are numerous and little hunted, I may mention the fact 

 that a party of four men killed seventy-five in two nights 

 in the Indian Territory, nearly all of which were shot 

 from the tops of trees. Yvlien those men could not find 

 them by glancing into the foliage, a trained vocalist imi- 

 tated the hoot of the large owl, and soon received a 

 peremptory answer from every gobbler in the neighbor- 

 hood. Their position being made known by this simple 

 trick, little difficulty was experienced in bagging them, 

 for they were so loth to fly that one of the party killed 

 five in one tree with a Winchester rifle. 



The largest bag I ever made in a day, was seven, and I 

 killed them in about half an hour, in Southern Colo- 

 rado. I happened to be riding along the base of a 

 shrub-clad hill, when a Mexican approached and asked 

 me in his native patois if I had seen horses bearing a cer- 

 tain brand, in my travels. I answered in the negative, 

 and was about to ask him how far it was to a certain 

 farm-house, when he darted towards a clump of cedars 

 some four or five hundred yards distant. I thought, on 

 seeing his sudden departure, that my efforts at speaking 

 his native tongue had set him crazy, but I changed my 

 opinion as soon as I saw him fire his revolver at some ob- 

 jects, and then chase them as fast as his mustang could 

 run. After watching him for a few moments, I saw that 

 the objects he was pursuing were nothing less than tur- 

 keys, and as they were approaching me, I dismounted. 



