The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles 



of going round under the rampart, which 

 would present no difficulty to their pick- 

 axes. 



Even in the higher ranks of animality, ex- 

 amples of similar mental obfuscation are not 

 lacking. Audubon ^ tells us how, in his days, 

 wild Turkeys were caught in North America. 

 In a clearing known to be frequented by 

 these birds, a great cage was constructed with 

 stakes driven into the ground. In the centre 

 of the enclosure opened a short tunnel, which 

 dipped under the palisade and returned to 

 the surface outside the cage by a gentle slope, 

 which was open to the sky. The central 

 opening, wide enough to give a bird free 

 passage, occupied only a portion of the en- 

 closure, leaving around it, against the circle 

 of stakes, a wide unbroken zone, A few 

 handfuls of maize were scattered in the in- 

 terior of the trap, as well as round about it, 

 and in particular along the sloping path, 

 which passed under a sort of bridge and led 

 to the centre of the contrivance. In short, 

 the Turkey-trap presented an ever-open 

 door. The bird found it in order to enter, 



1 John James Audubon (1780-1851), the noted Ameri- 

 can ornithologist, of French descent, author of Birds of 

 America (1827-1830) and Ornithological Biography 

 (1831-1839). — Translator's Note. 



348 



