EARLY OBSERVATIONS 



the "early bird that catches the worm," but the ob- 

 serYations I have made lead me to believe that for 

 one worm that suffers for his folly in being out late 

 a thousand bugs and beetles are captured. The 

 proverb should read, "It is the early bird that 

 catches the bug," and different birds have different 

 ways of going about it. When a duck goes after a 

 bug he acts much like a ball player trying to steal a 

 base. He throws himself forward so suddenly that 

 he lands on his stomach, and at the same time shoots 

 out his neck full length. When I umpire such an 

 action through the tent flap it is very seldom that I 

 could announce the bug "safe." If ducks could only 

 be taught to play baseball they would beat Ty Cobb 

 at stealing bases. Shortly after the ducks the tur- 

 keys come marching past on their morning bug hunt. 

 Instead of moving in Indian file they walk abreast 

 in extended formation, and their method of taking 

 the unwary bug is entirely different from that of the 

 duck. When a turkey sees his prey he stops still, 

 sometimes with one foot in the air. Slowly and al- 

 most imperceptibly he moves his head towards the 

 luckless bug, and when his beak is within a couple 

 of inches of it he makes a quick grab that is invari- 

 ably fatal. In this connection I sometimes wonder 



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