The IVild Turkey 267 



quick ear of one of the slumberers perceives 

 the danger, which is immediately announced to 

 the whole party by a chuck ; thus alarmed, they rise 

 on their legs, and watch the motions of the owl, 

 who, darting like an arrow, would inevitably secure 

 the individual at which he aimed, did not the 

 latter suddenly drop his head, squat, and spread 

 his tail over his back ; the owl then glances over 

 without inflicting any injury, at the very instant 

 that the turkey suffers himself to fall headlong 

 toward the earth, where he is secure from his 

 dreaded enemy." 



This is purely imaginary. How could he see 

 what the owl did, or what the turkeys did ? Those 

 who have shot turkeys on the roost know how 

 much, or rather how little, of detail can be seen 

 even in the brightest of moonlight. And, while 

 the naturalist certainly might cautiously approach 

 the slumbering turkeys, how about the owl? That 

 bird is not at all careless of his own safety ; his 

 eyes are for night service and his ears wonder- 

 fully acute — why wouldn't he see, or hear, the 

 naturalist "i Again, as regards the turkeys' — 

 sleeping turkeys at that — hearing the owl's wing, 

 sailing too ! and that wing especially equipped 

 with a feather formation to prevent sound. And 

 then the darting like an arrow — no owl, with the 

 possible exception of the hawk-owl, and that other 

 day hunter, the snowy owl, ever darts anything 



