30 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



American turkeys which have been introduced 

 into the locality and thriven fairly well. Fine 

 handsome fellows they are, with their glossy 

 metallic plumage, and cinnamon wings and tail, 

 but disappointing from a sporting point of view. 

 It is almost impossible to persuade them to fly ; 

 but when they do, they look grand, swooping 

 over your head from some woody bank above you, 

 with hardly a motion of their great wings. It is, 

 however, rather amusing sometimes to stalk them 

 and shoot them, with a pea rifle, through the 

 head or neck ; to hit them anywhere else would 

 be too easy for sport, besides spoiling the meat. 

 Once fairly alarmed they seem to have discovered 

 the secret of perpetual motion, and it is no easy 

 matter to get a second tolerably easy shot. Their 

 principal merits are that they are excellent birds 

 for the table, and a great addition to the land- 

 scape. 



This time I do not watch them for long, for I 

 can study them at leisure at home from the window 

 of my room. Never were there birds of more 

 regular habits. The city clerk watching for his 

 daily omnibus does not appear on the same place 

 at the same time with more certainty. Unless 

 something startling has happened to alarm them, 

 you might safely set your watch by their move- 

 ments, as they stroll along in line, morning and 

 evening, picking the grass seeds as they go, with 

 a rapid motion of head and neck which I have 



