236 GAME. 



hunting than any one made brilliant by the moon, as 

 in this latter case the birds are much more apt to fly 

 away after a shot or two. The roosts are easily found 

 by day from the marks under the trees. Sometimes only 

 two or three birds will roost in one clump of trees; at 

 other times a roost of twenty or thirty birds may extend 

 in a thin line for half a mile along a stream ; and, again, 

 a small wood favourably situated may be the roosting 

 place of hundreds of birds, forty or fifty being occa- 

 sionally found on one tree. The hunter should approach 

 with caution. He will necessarily make some noise in 

 pushing through the thicket in the dark, but this will not 

 generally disturb the birds so as to cause them to fly. 

 There must be no talking ; the sound of the human voice 

 will send the birds off more rapidly than the noise of a 

 dozen guns. 



Arrived at a favourable spot under the trees, from 

 which he may shoot at several without changing position, 

 he selects the bird nearest the ground, takes careful aim, 

 and fires, keeping perfectly quiet after the shot. It is 

 desirable to kill dead each bird fired at, for if only 

 wounded it may flounder from branch to branch, making 

 a great disturbance, and frightening away many birds, 

 besides the chance of its flying off into the thicket and 

 being lost. If a bird high up in the tree be shot first, it 

 will, even though killed dead, probably -frighten away all 

 the birds below it and near which it passes in its fall. 

 The hunter should use, therefore, a good charge of 

 powder and heavy shot, and always fire first at the 

 lowest bird within reach. If the hunter is careful, and 

 the turkeys have not previously been much shot at while 

 roosting, he may get as many as he wishes. 



In 1872 I shot twelve from one tree, on the Cimarron 

 Biver. Many years ago a soldier in Texas bagged twenty- 

 six from one tree without changing his position. On one 

 occasion in Texas I had been sent out with a small party 

 of cavalry to procure game for the post at which I was 



