IVild Turkey- Shooting. 761 



pleasurable emotion. If you will come to the South and accompany 

 me some morning in the spring, which is the gobbling season, we will 

 seek his haunts. If there is a large creek bottom near, we will look 

 for him there. We reach the foot of the hills at dawn ; daylight is 

 beginning to appear in the east, and the stars are fading from sight. 

 Now, if there is one in hearing, we will make him gobble ; this we 

 do by imitating the hoot of the barred owl. Instantly a clear, rolling 

 gobble responds, — " good -a, good-a, good-a, good-a, good," — others 

 reply, and for a mile above and below is heard the refrain. 



To which one shall we go ? We hoot again, and listen intently 

 to the reply ; then, selecting the fattest, proceed in his direction. 

 You ask how we know which is the fattest ? Not a difficult task at 

 all for an experienced sportsman ; the more shrill and sharp the 

 gobble, the more fat there is on his breast ; when the breast-sponge 

 is not covered with fat, the gobble is hoarse and flabby. We stop 

 occasionally to be sure of our course, as we slip forward as rapidly 

 and noiselessly as possible. When near enough to hear his strut, 

 we pause to listen. The woods, that before seemed so still, are now 

 alive with noises. The whip-poor-will is wailing its plaintive song, 

 and every bird, that was sleeping so quietly a few minutes ago, is 

 now fussing around with the morning greetings to his drowsy mate. 

 Concealed by the foliage of a wide beech, we peer through the misty 

 shadows, and behold him standing on the limb of a lofty cypress. 

 We watch him suck the air to inflate his windbag, then hear him 

 emit a pulmonic puff and drum, and he immediately lowers his tail 

 and wings. Many think the strut of the turkey-cock is made by 

 scraping the tips of his flight feathers. This is a mistake ; he merely 

 touches the ground with the tips of his wings. The strut is made by 

 forcing the air out of the windbag. He has selected his position 

 in the cypress, because cypress brakes are always surrounded by- 

 water, which protects him from the approach of the wild-cat and 

 coon, as they prowl about during the night ; besides, anything wad- 

 ing in water makes a noise, and the turkey is a light sleeper. Be 

 cautious, too, how you walk, for around these marshy sloughs the 

 slimy moccasin and deadly cotton-mouth lie in their coils ready to 

 strike their envenomed fangs into the foot of the intruder. Some- 

 times the turkey can be shot on his roost, and many are killed in 

 this way. especially by hunters, who watch them fly up to roost, and 



