206 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



once " Gil-obhle-ohhle-obble. ClucJc-v-r r-o-o-o-mi. 

 Hush, hear that? " Cut-o-r-r-r" " Cut, cut keow, 

 Iceow, keow." What is it? Is some one else 

 calling? No; the sound is too perfect. Hark! 

 how he gobbles and struts with renewed vigor, 

 for it is the siren note of the real hen who has 

 gone to him. You might as well now keep quiet 

 for fifteen or twenty minutes, for he will not 

 answer as long as he is with a hen. As soon as 

 she is out of sight, however, he will listen to you. 

 Here, reader, is the most important lesson to be 

 learned and the most valuable in all turkey lore 

 — patience. 



Fifteen minutes is usually ample time with 

 the lusty turkey. You keep up the call and 

 tease at proper intervals until sufficient zeal is 

 restored, which can be determined by the vigor 

 of his gobble; then do not call any more, no mat- 

 ter what he does. Keep still and watch his 

 manoeuvres, and presently he will begin to gobble 

 and strut with great stress, gyrate, and swerve 

 from side to side, right to left, his big tail, doing 

 everything to fetch the new hen whose voice he 

 hears; but you must not break the spell by any 



