116 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



While creeping in this way he saw a doe standing 

 about thirty yards away, and a shot dropped her in 

 her tracks. A buck, which had been lying down, 

 jumped out, and a second shot brought him down. 

 Tying his handkerchief to a bush to mark the spot, 

 Dyche hurried out to where the cowboys were wait- 

 ing. In a very excited manner he asked if they had 

 seen the deer. None had passed that way, and when 

 Dyche told them that he had seen two the excitement 

 spread, and the cowboys now dashed into the bushes ; 

 but when they reached the dead deer with the hand- 

 kerchief flying they concluded that the man they had 

 sent into the bushes to play dog was no tenderfoot. 



In this hunt after the finest game-bird in the world, 

 Dyche not only secured a number of excellent speci- 

 mens, but learned much about the habits of the wild 

 turkey. He was aware of the fact that they be- 

 gin to lay about the first of April, and laid from a 

 dozen to fifteen eggs, but there was much about their 

 winter life which he did not know and which this 

 trip taught him. The birds of the Territory are 

 slightly different from those of New Mexico, with 

 brighter plumage and more distinct marking in 

 colours. In summer the food of the birds is governed 

 by the supply, being composed of insects, principally 

 grasshoppers, and buds and berries. In winter the 

 birds exist almost entirely on dried grapes, buds, and 

 seeds, and especially acorns. 



The cowboys said they had regular roosts, and 

 showed Dyche places where they said they had seen 

 thousands at a time in the trees ; but the pot-hunters 

 are after them, and this noble game-bird will go the 



