CHAPTER XI 



LEARNING TURKEY LANGUAGE — WHY DOES THE 

 GOBBLER GOBBLE 



TO LEARN to imitate the cry of a turkey 

 is no great feat, if you have something 

 to call with and know the sounds you 

 wish to imitate. One can become proficient in 

 the use of the call with reasonable effort; but to 

 expect to call intelligently, without a proper 

 knowledge of the interpretation of the notes pro- 

 duced, is as absurd as to read a foreign language 

 and not know the meaning of the words. Un- 

 less you know the meaning of the gobble, the 

 yelp, and cluck, in all their variations, you cannot 

 expect to use the turkey language intelligently. 

 Without such knowledge you will fail to interest 

 the bird you try to call, unless by accident or 

 sheer good luck you brought the cautious thing 

 within sight. It is not desirable, though, that we 

 depend upon luck; one should prefer skill in 



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