THE WILD TURKEY. 137 



of sufficient trail to indicate their proximity, whence it 

 happens that one may either never find a flock at all, 

 or may come on it unawares, and frighten the birds away 

 before there is a chance of a shot. 



For this reason the half grown birds are some- 

 times tracked with a dog trained for the purpose, 

 which, on striking the trail, follows it up without an 

 instant's hesitation, and without giving tongue, till he 

 runs right into the flock. Thus alarmed, the birds at 

 once take to the trees, the dog sitting at the foot 

 of the trunk barking at them, and so engrossing their 

 attention that the guns, with a little caution, are able 

 to get within range. The old birds, however, if thus 

 disturbed, run so swiftly and for such extraordinary dis- 

 tances that few animals are able to overtake them, their 

 pace being a sort of flying stride. 



Single birds, instead of running, crouch in the grass, 

 and lie till flushed, when they rise suddenly, and so close 

 as to give a fair flying shot. Flocks even of twenty or 

 thirty will occasionally rise in this manner and fly to 

 another thicket ; but this is the exception rather than the 

 rule, and he who beats the woods in hopes of " walking 

 up" the birds will in general drive them all away long 

 before he comes near. 



Their flight, except when pressed by some imminent 

 danger, is generally only for short distances, the bird's 



