WILD TURKEY SHOOTING. 365 



early in the morning. He gobbles and struts right along, 

 but gets no nearer. Soon everything is quiet, and I 

 know he is moving, but which way I can not tell, and so 

 keep my eyes busy, and my gun in a convenient position. 

 The swish of a squirrel's tail, seventy yards from me, 

 causes me to start my gun to my face; but the mistake is 

 detected instantly. I hear him strut, and know he is 

 nearer, but can't locate him. I give an easy yelp, and 

 he instantly gobbles, squarely off to my left, not over 

 loo yards away. Quietly turning to face him, I watch, 

 in the hope that he may circle near enough for a 

 shot; but he doesn't, and the next I hear of him is when 

 he gobbles, about the same distance away, and exactly to 

 my left. If I had not turned, he would now.be behind 

 me. Keeping my front to him, a close watch is kept up, 

 and developments are awaited. Here he stops, gobbles, 

 and struts for fifteen minutes, while I yelp just a very 

 little. Now he strikes off down the Bottom, going to my 

 left still, but going straight; every few minutes he gobbles, 

 so that I can course him exactly. Believing that he will 

 swing round farther to my left, and keep an ear in my 

 direction, I cast off to his left, leaving him on my right, 

 and travel fast until I am a little ahead of him. He 

 gobbles a good deal, which convinces me that he is still 

 hopeful of results from the yelping he has heard. All at 

 once, I come to an open glade, about 100 yards long 

 and sixty wide, in the edge of which there is a small, thick 

 cluster of bushes, exactly suited to my purpose, and in 

 the very center of this I squat flat down on the ground! 

 " I can make him show himself here, sure," is the con- 

 fident, thought in my mind. He is not more than 

 2oo yards away, when a few low yelps are given 

 with a green-brier leaf, to which he makes no response 

 except to strut. In about five minutes, he gobbles low, 

 to which I respond at once, and he gobbles again. Two 



