4 
430 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. 
