274 The Turkey Family 



for truly it is one of the most difficult tasks to a 

 novice. 



Calling is possible at two seasons, but only 

 reliable at one, the mating-time. Owing to the 

 game laws it is a method mainly confined to the 

 South. The few times I have tried it in the North, 

 of course in the fall, have been toward dusk and 

 after we had scattered a brood of that year in 

 heavy brush. Upon these occasions the " caller " 

 was a common brier pipe with a hard rubber stem. 

 I had been smoking it most of the day, and the 

 first attempt at calling was purely an experiment. 

 We had been quietly sitting at the edge of the 

 cover (which was entirely too dry and dense for 

 anything like still-hunting), in the hope that the 

 brood might work back to the open and possibly 

 afford a chance. My companion wearied of the 

 seemingly useless wait, and, half in jest, I tried a 

 bit of calling. 



This calling, imitating the yelp of the bird, 

 yunk-yunk-yunk, is done by sucking air through 

 a turkey bone, or a new, common clay pipe. A 

 hand over the bone or the pipe-bowl regulates the 

 volume of sound, which is produced by an inter- 

 rupted sucking between the compressed lips, dif- 

 ficult to describe in detail. Upon the occasion 

 referred to, wherein the wood pipe figured, the 

 bowl was first carefully cleaned, and then a trial 

 was risked. Greatly to my comrade's astonish- 



