66 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



are easily discovered by their enemies, the owls, 

 which, on silent wing, approach and hover around 

 them for the purpose of reconnoitering. This, how- 

 ever, is rarely done without being discovered, and 

 a single cluck from one of the turkeys announces to 

 the whole party the approach of the murderer. 

 They instantly start upon their legs, and watch the 

 motions of the owl, which, selecting one as its victim, 

 comes down upon it like an arrow, and would inevit- 

 ably secure the turkey, did not the latter at that mo- 

 ment lower its head, stoop, and spread its tail in an 

 inverted manner over its back, by which action the 

 aggressor is met by a smooth inclined plane, along 

 which it glances without hurting the turkey; imme- 

 diately after which the latter drops to the ground, 

 and thus escapes, merely with the loss of a few feath- 

 ers. ' " 



' l To make a breastplate of the tail spread out like 

 a wheel is a very ingenious means of defense, " re- 

 marked Emile. "The turkey is not so foolish as 

 people think. ' ' 



"It is so far from being foolish that we have not in 

 the poultry-yard a more impassioned lover of liberty. 

 In their native country turkeys wander through the 

 great woods from morning to night in untiring 

 search of insects and fat larvae, fruit and seeds of all 

 kinds, acorns and nuts especially, of which they are 

 very fond. Thus the stay-at-home habits of the 

 poultry-yard do not suit them at all. They must 

 have the open air of the fields and the exercise of 

 long walks. Moors, woods, hills abounding in grass- 



