BREAST SPONGE SHREWDNESS 109 



to cross the fence, when I dropped by a stump, 

 lifted my rifle, and waited for him to mount the 

 fence. This he was some time in doing, but I fi- 

 nally heard the flop, flop, when his fine form with 

 long, pendent beard was seen broadside on by me 

 on the top rail, about eighty -five yards away. In 

 a second the bead of my rifle covered the spot at 

 the wing, and, as I fired, the bird tumbled dead 

 into the field. It was a grand old specimen, and 

 on examining it dry blood was discovered where 

 a buckshot had passed through its leg. There 

 was another shot across the rump, and a third 

 had creased the back of the neck near the head. 

 In my opinion, the bird hearing the "put-put" 

 of the gobbler who came up behind me suspected 

 a hidden enemy, and, having lately been wounded, 

 thought it best to give suspicious places a wide 

 berth. 



There are thousands of acres in the South 

 which were once cultivated, but which are now 

 abandoned and growing up with timber, brush, 

 and grass. Such country affords splendid op- 

 portunity for the rearing and perpetuation of the 

 wild turkey. These lands are vastly superior for 



