9O EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 



And so they strutted, and swore, and spat at 

 each other, and the battle began, but in a 

 wary, deliberate fashion. I was amused to 

 see them bowing to each other in what seemed 

 a polite, gentlemanly way ; but really they were 

 only manoeuvring. It was curious to see their 

 heads bobbing up and down; I wondered 

 when they were going to begin. But turkeys 

 don't fight in a vulgar way, with their whole 

 bodies, beaks, spurs, wings, and legs, like 

 " tame villatic fowls." These birds fought on 

 scientific principles, and only with their beaks. 

 I soon discovered that their method was to 

 try to get hold of each other's lower jaw, and 

 the moment one opened his beak, his oppo- 

 nent would dart at him with incredible swift- 

 ness and endeavour to seize that jaw in his 

 mouth. 



They were equally matched as to numbers, 

 and the battle raged long and furiously ; nearly 

 every bird got hooked by the jaw in this way, 

 and the great struggle was to tug themselves 

 free. So far as I could see they used no other 

 weapon. They made no attempt to strike with 

 their wings or their legs. " When Turk meets 

 Turk, then comes the tug of war." For a 



