52 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING, 
I have sought them ocgasionally under various condi- 
tions and with different degrees of success, and I can say 
that I never returned from a trip after them, whether for- 
tunate or otherwise, without feeling improved mentally 
and physically, and having a more exalted opinion of 
them, as the monarchs of the American game-birds— 
they having every essential quality necessary to win the 
admiration of sportsmen who like to work for their tro- 
phies. To show how readily they may be kiMed where they 
are numerous and little hunted, I may mention the fact 
that a party of four men killed seventy-five in two nights 
in the Indian Territory, nearly all of which were shot 
from the tops of trees. When these men could not find 
them by glancing into the foliage, a trained vocalist imi- 
tated the hoot of the Jarge owl, and soon received a 
peremptory answer from every gobbler in the neighbor- 
hood. Their position being made known by this simple 
trick, little difficulty was experienced in bagging them, 
for they were so loth to fly that one of the party killed 
five in one tree with a Winchester rifle. 
The largest bag I ever made in a day, was seven, and I 
killed them in about half an hour, in Southern Colo- 
rado. I happened to be riding along the base of a 
shrub-clad hill, when a Mexican approached and asked 
me in his native patois if I had seen horses bearing a cer- 
tain brand, in my travels. I answered in the negative, 
and was about to ask him how far it was to a certain 
farm-house, when he darted towards a clump of cedars 
some four or five hundred yards distant. I thought, on 
seeing his sudden departure, that my efforts at speaking 
his native tongue had set him crazy, but I changed my 
opinion as soon as I saw him fire his revolver at some ob- 
jects, and then chase them as fast as his mustang could 
run. After watching him for afew moments, I saw that 
the objects he was pursuing were nothing less than tur- 
keys, and as they were approaching me, I dismounted, 
