60 BEYOND THE PASTURE BARS 



Then he stretches his long neck again, lays his 

 little witless head on the side again, bobs and 

 bobs, looks and looks and looks, says quint, quint, 

 quint, quint "I think I '11 go to roost," but is just 

 as undecided as ever. 



He does the performance over and over again 

 and would never go to roost if the darkness did 

 not come and compel him. He would stand under 

 that tree stretching, turning, looking, bobbing, 

 "quinting," thinking, until he thought his head 

 off, saying all the while 



One for the money ; two for the show ; 



Three to get ready; and four to get ready to go! 



But after a while, along toward dusk (and aw- 

 fully suddenly!) fop! gobble! splutter! ivhoop! 

 and there he is, up on the limb, safe! Eeally 

 safe ! But it was an exceedingly close call. 



And this is the very way the wild turkey acts. 

 The naturalists who had a chance to study the 

 great flocks of wild turkeys years ago describe 

 these same absurd actions. This lack of snap 

 and decision is not something the tame turkey has 

 learned in the farm-yard. The fact is he does 

 not seem to have learned anything during his 350 

 years in the barn-yard, nor does he seem to have 



