Vol. XXVIII] n , n . r 



19H J Correspondence. 145 



of Virginia and these solitary negroes roamed through her forests, they 

 frequently passed through the better part of two or three days without 

 a mouthful to eat. Especially was this the case in the spring-time when 

 the few remaining birds undertook to breed. Persistent persecution at 

 the hands of these negroes had apparently rendered the birds more and 

 more secretive with respects to the sites they selected for nests wherein 

 to deposit their eggs. This increased secret iveness, however, had but the 

 effect of sharpening the wits of these negro prowlers for sustenance, and, 

 frequently suffering from long-prolonged hunger, in every instance, sooner 

 or latter, the much desired Wild Turkey's nest of eggs was discovered, 

 and every one of the latter promptly consumed to appease his voracity. 

 It goes without the saying as to what must happen if the eggs of any bird 

 in nature be continually destroyed. But these negroes by no means 

 stopped here, for if any one or more of these hen turkeys chanced to hatch 

 out her brood, she was pretty certain to be met with by one of these merci- 

 less hunters, and fall a victim, chicks and all, to his rapacious appetite. 

 So much for the criminality of this class of negroes and their lack of regard 

 for the State game laws during the breeding season of the Wild Turkey. 



When these fowls came to flock, or at the mating season, the ingenuity of 

 these game destroyers, — these law-breaking negroes, — knew no limit. 

 The places where the turkeys congregated or where they were in the habit 

 of roosting, were easily discovered, and a most fatal design of trap was set 

 for them in each and every locality. So simple, so inexpensive, so sure 

 of result was the means employed to capture the birds at these times that 

 their destruction was effected with great rapidity. They were simply 

 baited, and baited in two ways, depending upon circumstances. For 

 instance, let us select one of the many localities in the forest where the 

 turkeys roosted in the trees, and where in the morning and early evening 

 they fed and strutted and walked about on the ground, in the neighbor- 

 hood. To capture them, these negroes employed only a very small fish- 

 hook firmly attached to the end of a long piece of pliant, dark-colored 

 twine, of sufficient strength to hold his victim. When the hook and line 

 was set up in one of the roosting-trees it was baited with a soft piece of 

 dough about the size of a small acorn. In the tree where the turkeys 

 roosted, parallel limbs were selected, the one being some three or four 

 feet above the other. Through previous observation the negro had become 

 aware that a turkey was in the habit of roosting on the lower limb, and by 

 running the twine over the upper one and suspending the bait where the 

 bird could conveniently reach it, the remainder of the line was cunningly 

 concealed through the tree and finally firmly fastened to a peg in the 

 ground beneath. What follows is easily imagined, and hundreds of Wild 

 Turkeys have been captured and killed by this simple affair. When the 

 trap, if it may be termed a trap, is set on the ground the principle involved 

 is much the same. Here, however, the bait employed is usually a grain 

 of yellow corn made soft by soaking it in water so the barb of the hook can 

 be readily passed into it and be at once effective after swallowing, and 



