TURKEY SHOOTING 423 



structed the night before, or in some thicket, listens 

 carefully for the first calling of the turkey, to which he 

 responds. In this way he may succeed in drawing 

 several turkeys toward him. 



The instrument used in calling turkeys is sometimes 

 made of the bone of the bird's wing, sometimes of a 

 little box floored with a piece of slate, the cry being 

 caused by the stroke of another piece of slate on the 

 slate in the box. At all events, the noise must be a 

 good imitation of the turkey's cry, for the great bird 

 is one of the most acute of fowls, and very little escapes 

 either its eye or its ear. If the imitation of the cry is 

 a poor one, answers will soon cease to come, and the 

 birds will retreat. 



Some years ago a correspondent, Tripod, wrote 

 from Mississippi a brief but vivid account of the kill- 

 ing of a turkey by Miss Mary C. Breckenridge, whose 

 experience with a shotgun was limited, but who, when 

 the occasion arose, showed herself an apt pupil of her 

 skilled instructor. She was new to the woods, and 

 after traveling for some distance made up her mind 

 that turkeys were a myth. Nevertheless, it was de- 

 cided to call, and after a time, in the open woods, Miss 

 Mary selected a good log for an ambuscade, while Tri- 

 pod used the yelper, and at once received an answer 

 from a nearby bird. The turkey kept approaching, 

 ing, but before he had been seen a shot in the distance 

 frightened him and he ceased answering. The turkey 

 hunters sat quietly for a time, uttering now and then 

 a little yelp, or cluck, when a twig snapped, and as 



