SHOOTING WILD TURKEYS. 231 



Ending her perched on a fence, made towards her. Ad- 

 vancing slowly and cautiously, I heard the yelping notes 

 of some gobblers, when I stopped and listened in order 

 to ascertain the direction' in which they came. I then 

 ran to meet the birds, hid myself by the side of a large 

 fallen tree, cocked my gun, and waited with impatience for 

 a good opportunity.* The gobblers continued yelping 

 in answer to the female, which all this while remained 

 on the fence. I looked over the log, and saw about 

 thirty fine cocks advancing rather cautiously towards 

 the very spot where I lay concealed. They came so 

 near, that the light in their eyes could easily be per- 

 ceived, when I fired one barrel, and killed three. The 

 rest, instead of flying off, fell a strutting around their 

 dead companions ; and had I not looked on shooting 

 again as murder without necessity, I might have secured 

 at least another. So I showed myself, and marching to 

 the -place where the dead birds were, drove away the 

 survivors. I may also mention, that a friend of mine 

 shot a fine hen, from his horse, with a pistol, as the poor 

 thing was probably returning to her nest to lay. 



Should you, good natured reader, be a sportsman, 

 and now and then have been fortunate in the exercise 

 of your craft, the following incident, which I shall relate 

 to you as I had it from the mouth of an honest farmer, 

 may prove interesting. Turkeys were very abundant in 

 his neighborhood, and, resorting to his cornfields, at the 

 period when the maize had just shot up from the ground, 

 destroyed great quantities of it. This induced him to 

 swear vengeance against the species. He cut a long 

 * See vignette on the title page. 



