50 THE WILD TURKEY. 



continued abstinence. When near farms, however, they leave the roosts, 

 and go into the very stables and about the stacks of corn, to procure food. 

 During melting snow-falls, they will travel to an extraordinary distance, and 

 are then followed in vain, it being impossible for hunters of any description 

 to keep up with them. They have then a dangling and straggling way of 

 running, which, awkward as it may seem, enables them to outstrip any 

 other animal. I have often, when on a good horse, been obliged to abandon 

 the attempt to put them up, after following them for several hours. This 

 habit of continued running, in rainy or very damp weather of any kind, is 

 not peculiar to the Wild Turkey, but is common to all gallinaceous birds. 

 In America, the different species of Grouse exhibit the same tendency. 



In spring, when the males are much emaciated, in consequence of their 

 attentions to the females, it sometimes happens that, on plain and open 

 ground, they may be overtaken by a swift dog, in which case they squat, 

 and allow themselves to be seized, either by the dog, or the hunter who has 

 followed on a good horse. I have heard of such occurrences, but never had 

 the pleasure of seeing an instance of them. 



Good dogs scent the Turkeys, when in large flocks, at extraordinary 

 distances, — I think I may venture to say half a mile. Should the dog be 

 well trained to this sport, he sets off at full speed, and in silence, until he 

 sees the birds, when he instantly barks, and pushing as much as possible 

 into the centre of the flock, forces the whole to take wing in different 

 directions. This is of great advantage to the hunter, for should the Turkeys 

 all go one v/ay, they would soon leave their perches and run again. But 

 when they separate in this manner, and the weather happens to be calm and 

 lowering, a person accustomed to this kind of sport finds the birds with ease, 

 and shoots them at pleasure. 



When Turkeys alight on a tree, it is sometimes very difficult to see them, 

 which is owing to their standing perfectly motionless. Should you discover 

 one, when it is down on its legs upon the branch, you may approach it with 

 less care. But if it is standing erect, the greatest precaution is necessary, 

 for should it discover you, it instantly flies off, frequently to such a distance 

 that it would be vain to follow. 



When a Turkey is merely winged by a shot, it falls quickly to the ground 

 in a slanting direction. Then, instead of losing time by tumbling and 

 rolling over, as other birds often do when wounded, it runs off at such a 

 rate, that unless the hunter be provided with a swift dog, he may bid 

 farewell to it. I recollect coming on one shot in this manner, more than a 

 mile from the tree where it had been perched, my dog having traced it to 

 this distance, through one of those thick cane-brakes that cover many 

 portions of our rich alluvial lands near the banks of our western rivers. 



