THE WILD TURKEY. 51 



Turkeys are easily killed if shot in the head, the neck, or the upper part of 

 the breast; but if hit in the hind parts only, they often fly so far as to be lost 

 to the hunter. During winter many of our real hunters shoot them by 

 moonlight, on the roosts, where these birds will frequently stand a repeti- 

 tion of the reports of a rifle, although they would fly from the attack of an 

 Owl, or even perhaps from his presence. Thus sometimes nearly a whole 

 flock is secured by men capable of using these guns in such circumstances. 

 They are often destroyed in great numbers when most worthless, that is, 

 early in the fall or autumn, when many are killed in their attempt to cross 

 the rivers, or immediately after they reach the shore. 



Whilst speaking of the shooting of Turkeys, I feel no hesitation in 

 relating the following occurrence, which happened to myself. While in 

 search of game, one afternoon late in autumn, when the males go together, 

 and the females are by themselves also, I heard the clucking of one of the 

 latter, and immediately finding her perched on a fence, made towards her. 

 Advancing slowly and cautiously, I heard the yelping notes of some 

 gobblers, when I stopped and listened in order to ascertain the direction in 

 which they came. I then ran to meet the birds, hid myself by the side of a 

 large fallen tree, cocked my gun, and waited with impatience for a good 

 opportunity. The gobblers continued yelping in answer to the female, 

 which all this while remained on the fence. I looked over the log and saw 

 about thirty fine cocks advancing rather cautiously towards the very spot 

 where I lay concealed. They came so near that the light in their eyes 

 could easily be perceived, when I fired one barrel, and killed three. The 

 rest, instead of flying off, fell a strutting around their dead companions, and 

 had I not looked on shooting again as murder without necessity, I might 

 have secured at least another. So I shewed myself, and marching to the 

 place where the dead birds were, drove away the survivors. I may also 

 mention, that a friend of mine shot a fine hen, from his horse, with a pistol, 

 as the poor thing was probably returning to her nest to lay. 



Should you, good-natured reader, be a sportsman, and now and then have 

 been fortunate in the exercise of your craft, the following incident, which I 

 shall relate to you as I had it from the mouth of an honest farmer, may 

 prove interesting. Turkeys were very abundant in his neighbourhood, and, 

 resorting to his corn-fields, at the period when the maize had just shot up 

 from the ground, destroyed great quantities of it. This induced him to swear 

 vengeance against the species. He cut a long trench in a favourable situa- 

 tion, put a great quantity of corn in it, and having heavily loaded a famous 

 duck gun of his, placed it so as that he could pull the trigger by means of a 

 string, when quite concealed from the birds. The Turkeys soon discovered 

 the corn in the trench, and quickly disposed of it, at the same time con- 



