234 FIELD SHOOTING. 



was coming up on his track, and be ready for a 

 quick bolt. As 1 advanced on the trail, I heard 

 a movement among the top brush of a fallen 

 tree, and out went the turkey. He was probably 

 sixty yards away from me when I saw him so 

 as to shoot, but I took a long shot, and hit him 

 hard with the right barrel, following it with the 

 left instanter to make sure work. I think the 

 first barrel would have been enough, but I was 

 very anxious to get him ; and as I knew that if 

 he was only winged he would run until he 

 dropped dead, I gave him the second barrel. He 

 was the most splendid specimen of the wild tur- 

 key I ever saw, and I have seen a great many. 

 He weighed twenty-seven pounds, was quite fat, 

 and the beard the tuft of hair which hangs from 

 the breast was eight inches long. The beauty 

 of his plumage on the neck, wings, and breast 

 is indescribable. It glittered with a score of hues 

 of metallic lustre gold, green, purple, brown, etc. 

 and these tints cast rays like those which flash 

 from the feathers of the humming-bird. 



It was in the belt of timber in which this 

 gobbler was found that I then lived. On two 

 occasions there I shot at a turkey on the wing 

 with a rifle, when out after deer, and killed. 



