OF A RANCHMAN 161 



borhood it exists. And as it is easily the 

 king of all game birds, and as its pursuit 

 is a peculiarly American form of sport, 

 account of how it is hunted in the 

 southern plains country may be worth 

 reading. The following is an extract from 

 a letter written to me by my brother, in 

 December, 1875, while he was in Texas, 

 containing an account of some of his turkey- 

 hunting experience in that State. The 

 portion relating how the birds are coursed 

 with greyhounds is especially markworthy; 

 it reminds one of the method of killing the 

 great bustard with gazehounds, as de- 

 scribed in English sporting books of two 

 centuries back. 



" Here, some hundred miles south and 

 west of Fort McKavett, are the largest 

 turkey roosts in the world. This beautiful 

 fertile valley, through which the deep, silent 

 stream of the Llano flows, is densely 

 wooded with grand old pecan trees along 

 its banks; as are those of its minor tribu- 

 taries which come boiling down from off 



