440 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



to watch until dark, and not to begin to fire without 

 the other. About nine o'clock we returned to the place. 

 The first few shots, fired rapidly, created a great com- 

 motion, and the air seemed to be filled with turkeys, 

 flying heavily off in all directions; but there were no 

 outcries, and in a few minutes all was quiet and no 

 more birds could be found. I was satisfied, however, 

 that we had secured as many as necessary for speci- 

 mens, though we did not know the exact number, for 

 some of them went thumping down to the bottom of the 

 canyon and others fell at some distance. 



"At daylight next morning we were again on the 

 ground, and found the flock broken up into small par- 

 ties, which soon left their roosts and went off in vari- 

 ous directions. On leaving the trees the turkeys usu- 

 ally flew two or three hundred yards and then ran 

 rapidly until out of sight. During the following days 

 it became evident that all the tracks seen for several 

 miles about our camp had been made by this flock. 

 No more fresh ones were found in the vicinity, show- 

 ing that the frightened birds had left the locality at 

 once. 



"Our lucky night hunt having given us a fine series 

 of females and young of the year, we then devoted 

 our attention entirely to the old gobblers. We hunted 

 steadily day after day, covering the country for miles 

 in all directions, without seeing any of the old fellows ; 

 but they were in the country, and it could only be a 

 question of time until we found them. From the tracks 

 of the different flocks it appeared that the old males 



