The sun., 1902-04-27

nODOlIuk9
In the south-slauEhter Among Them
Bass Fishing ut Its hest on the Timer
Mississippi Bevies OF Quan Met
With in the Southwest Owls as De-
s,royers OF Small Game-InterestinE
Things About Hunting and Fishing.
The wild turkey gobbler OF the Southwest
has uttered his last gobbe OF the year.
All through the spring he has sent his chal-
Longing call over the woods at dawn. Now,
after many pursuits and wooings and bloody
combats in the glades, he is mated for the
season.
That mating is brief. The gobbler is
not domestic In any sense. When the nest
is built he will leave the female to incubate
her eggs and get her food as best she may.
He will not defend her against any foe;
he will sometimes beat her savagely while
sitting. When the chicks are hatched
10 will kill them all IL he can find them.
For this reason the hen secretes her nest
from him IL she can. IL she cannot she
will take the young and fee from him as
soon as they are out Of the shells
The gobbler indeed has many of the
traits Of a drunken ruffian in trousers. He
is the Bill Sykes OF the feathered kingdom,
but like Sykes he has the redeeming virtue
Of personal courage. A braver bird never
few. There is a strong strain Of the game
cock in him.
II will be understood that his bravery
is shown in combats with his own kind.
He has much intelligence and will not fight
man, OF fox, or wild cat, or a hawk,
for that matter. knowing that it would be
OF no use.
But he will defy and engage gallantly any
gobbler that walks the wilds, no matter
what the odds of size, age and strength.
In this way he is often whipped and some-
times killed.
Walking through the woodlands fire.
quented by turkeys in the months Of March
and April the observer will find here and
there punches of feathers scattered over
the leaves. Sometimes they will be strewn
over an area twenty yards square. This
does not mean that fox or a cat has there
enacted tragedy Of appetite. II means
that two gobblers have come together
and have lambasted each other for a long
hour by the suns clock
One of them has been defeated because
these battles are never drawn and he may
have died OF the wounds. II is not unusual
to find gobbler with a wing broken in
fight or one or both eyes blinded
The bird, the nobest in size, delicacy
and plumage OF our feathered game has
virtues which almost offset his selfishness.
savagery and brutality TO female turkeys.
He is Of rare intelligence, of most imposing
presence and his comparative rarity makes
hin, a . ba ~
The man who has slain a gobbler. even
after an arduous day, feels himself TO be
fully rewarded The capture calls for all
the skill OF the marksman and the craft of
the woodsman.
There are many men in the United States
who have slain all forms OF grouse from
the ruffed dandy Of the north woods to
the fcol hen; have bsgged quail. wood
cock. jacksnipe, all sorts Of ducks and
geese, have even brought down the ante
lope deer, elk or lordly moose. and have
never killed wild turkey Such men
like the person who has not read THE
coister and the Hearth--have a delightful
experience awaiting them.
" Is strange, but nevertheless true,
that although this country contains thou
sands of sportsmen with time and means
70 hunt. the wild turkey is little pursued
by them. These wandering nimrods 20
hundreds Of miles each season in search of
ducks or grouse. From Boston 20 the
lowermost point Of Florida IL only a jaun,
Tor them. One meels them watching for
geese IN the swamps ~ Alaska aud the
marshes Of California But II il seldom that
any one of them sells out deliberately 20
procure a specimen ~ Americas king game
bird Possibly they do not know where ~
q" or never having experienced ih.
delights IT turkey sho1ting, know nothing
ami care uothius about II
ln general D. may h. said thai reasonably
,suiIl and industrious man b. oirtaln ~
'A'N"-s any uysi"fc "a southern Indian
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