THE SPIRIT OF THE HERD 1*3 



decision when stopped in their march by a river 

 one can see paralleled any winter afternoon on 

 the farm when the turkeys start for their roost in 

 the tree-tops. Their absurd efforts to summon the 

 will to fly into the trees, on to the fence oc- 

 cupied the wild flock for days together when the 

 flight was to be across a river. On the other hand 

 the wild turkey was as obstinate and as " set " as 

 it was indecisive. So is the tame turkey. One of 

 my neighbors missed a hen turkey for several 

 days. Suspecting a stolen nest she began a search. 

 At last she found the hen, as she expected, on the 

 nest, but with wings and tail hard-pressed to the 

 earth keeping off a full-grown skunk that was 

 trying to push under her for the eggs. It was 

 evident that she had been repeatedly attacked, 

 perhaps for the several days, but, without food 

 or sleep, had kept her place, beating back the 

 spoiler at the risk of her own life. This trait often 

 takes a peculiarly irritating turn, as the farmer well 

 knows. Some time ago the newspapers told the 

 story of a flock of turkeys that were being driven 

 to market through a Southern town, when they 

 took fright and flew into the tops of tall trees. 

 There they stayed, defeating every effort to bring 



