AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



flights, it rose with difficulty, and the dogs were almost 

 under it, looking up, and now and then one of them 

 springing high in the air in an endeavor to seize it, 

 which at last one of them did. 



A graphic account of this sport, written by the late 

 Elliot Roosevelt, is given by Theodore Roosevelt in 

 his very charming book, "Hunting Trips of a Ranch- 



man." 



In old times, when turkeys were plentiful, and espe- 

 cially in the South, they were trapped and slaughtered 

 in considerable numbers. The commonest form of 

 trap was one formed of rails piled up, crossing at the 

 corners so as to make an ordinary rail pen. From 

 this a deep trench was dug out, slanting up to the level 

 of the ground. This trench was deep enough and 

 wide enough for a turkey easily to pass through. 

 Within the trap a little brush was thrown over the 

 trench, close to the rails. Then through the trench, 

 and running out some distance into the woods, was 

 laid a trail of corn. Turkeys wandering through the 

 woods found the corn, began to pick it up, and fol- 

 lowed it to the trench, and down the trench into the 

 pen, where more corn was scattered. In this way half 

 a dozen turkeys, or even a whole brood, might enter 

 the pen. When they had eaten the corn, and wished 

 to go away, they walked around the walls of the pen 

 looking for a place to get out, walking or jumping 

 across the trench, but never seeming to think of going 

 out the way they had come in. In this manner large 

 numbers of turkeys used to be caught. 



