TURKEY SHOOTING 435 



the roost was long a common one. If a roost was 

 found, the hunters sometimes approached it during the 

 afternoon, and concealing themselves, awaited the re- 

 turn of the turkeys, and perhaps the rising of the moon, 

 so that the great birds might be seen against the sky. 

 At all times, and especially in sections where turkeys 

 had not been much hunted, it was easy to ride one's 

 horse beneath a roosting-tree, and there dismounting, 

 to fire into the birds above. Stories are told of hunt- 

 ing parties sent out from the forts in Texas to get 

 fresh meat for the men, who, after a few days, returned 

 with a wagon loaded with turkeys. 



On the far-stretching and often level plains of Texas 

 turkeys were frequently coursed with greyhounds. A 

 troop of riders, with a number of dogs, rode in a long 

 line over the prairie, beating up an extent of country 

 half a mile or more wide. Finally, from some little 

 hollow or clump of bushes a brood of turkeys was 

 started, which took wing and flew, fast and far, over 

 the prairie. The dogs, accustomed to the sport, fol- 

 lowed some particular bird, and all the horsemen, 

 plying whip and spur, followed the dogs at top speed. 

 The turkey's flight was swifter than the speed of the 

 'dogs, and after it had gone half a mile or more it 

 slanted slowly down to the ground and then raced 

 away with great swiftness; but the eager dogs soon 

 overtook it, and forced it to wing again. This time 

 it once more gained distance on the dogs, but now its 

 flight was much shorter than before, and once more 

 it came to earth. The third time, tired by its previous 



