268 The Turkey Family 



like an arrow. All the owls that I have seen, and 

 they number quite a few, sidled noiselessly up to 

 the prey, and then grabbed it with hooks that 

 seldom miss. Finally, the turkey falling " head- 

 long," if it ever reached the ground in that 

 fashion, and was fat and consequently heavy, 

 it would stand a good chance of breaking its 

 limber neck, to say nothing of rapping its pecul- 

 iarly tender head against something much harder. 

 Any country boy knows how easy it is to tempo- 

 rarily stun a turkey, even with that handy missile, 

 a green apple. And after the turkey had fallen 

 headlong to the ground, what then ? It would 

 simply be precisely where old Bubo virginianus 

 would prefer to have it, whether he caught it on 

 the fly, or the first bounce, one or other of which 

 he would be mighty apt to do ! No, a turkey of 

 very limited night vision, going to the shadows 

 to hide from a great horned owl, that probably 

 could see well enough to count the hairs on a 

 black cat sitting on a coal pile in a cellar, is not 

 sound protective tactics. Nor will the theory that 

 there might be convenient brush to screen the 

 turkey when on the ground bear out the state- 

 ment. A great horned owl will walk into a hen- 

 house, or under an outbuilding, or fallen tree, kill 

 under the shelter, and then drag out his kill. This 

 I have more than once seen him do, and I have 

 scored my kill by moonlight as he dragged forth 

 the victim. 



