THE WILD TURKEY. 
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that he is very likely to lose his supper, or be 
driven to seek it somewhere else. 
The turkey's great security lies in the 
strength and swiftness of his legs. It is im- 
possible to catch him by running ; and he 
often baffles the hunter, as well as the owl 
and the lynx, and tantalizes him beyond all 
endurance. 
If a sportsman happens to be driving, and 
a flock of turkeys to be roaming that way (for 
they are restless birds, and scattered every- 
where), they do not trouble themselves about 
him, and keep close under his horse's feet. 
But if he takes up his gun and gets out, 
thinking it will be very easy to shoot them, 
off* they scamper, and skim along the ground 
with such rapidity, that before he has time to 
raise his gun, they have disappeared, and 
there is nothing for him to fire at. 
So he is obliged to have recourse to a 
stratagem. He goes into the forest at night, 
when the turkeys have gone to roost, and 
imitates the cry of the barred owl. He soon 
finds out where they are, for at this dreaded 
sound they rouse themselves, and begin to 
cluck. Then the hunter goes up to the tree, 
