4050 Quadrupeds <Spc. 



motion, he clutched one of the sparrows which had ventured too close 

 to him, and immediately darted off, carrying away his prey in his 

 deadly gripe, and quickly distancing the other sparrows which still 

 pursued him, and from which he seemed previously to have feigned 

 that he could not escape. 



I once saw a golden eagle, which appeared entirely to fascinate a 

 rabbit that was put into the large cage in which the eagle was kept. 

 As soon as the rabbit was introduced, the eagle fixed his eye upon it, 

 and the rabbit intently returned the gaze, and began going round the 

 eagle in circles, approaching nearer each time, the eagle meanwhile 

 turning on his axis (as it were) on the block of wood upon which he 

 was seated, and keeping his eye fixed upon that of the rabbit. 



When the rabbit had approached very near to the bottom of the 

 eagle's perch, it stood up on its hind legs, and looked the eagle in 

 the face ; the eagle then made his pounce, which appeared at once to 

 break the charm, and the rabbit ran for its life, but it was too late for 

 it to escape the clutch of the eagle, and the instant death which fol- 

 lowed that tremendous squeeze. 



It is well known that a hare or rabbit, if pursued by a stoat or wea- 

 sel, soon becomes, first bewildered, and then almost paralyzed, by 

 the consciousness of its pursuer's advance. May not this again be 

 another development of the same principle ? 



To return to the point where I began, I will in conclusion repeat 

 another story of turkeys and foxes which I know to be true, but which 

 I believe has not yet been recorded. 



A gamekeeper in Norfolk had under his care a flock of nominally 

 wild turkeys, descended from some that were imported into Norfolk 

 from America, during the last century, by the then Earl of Bucking- 

 hamshire. 



These turkeys roosted in a wood which was frequented by foxes, 

 and the gamekeeper, wishing to protect the turkeys from their attacks, 

 moved his dog-kennels under the trees upon which the turkeys perch- 

 ed, in order that the dogs might act as their guardians against the 

 foxes. This lasted for some months ; after which, the foxes having 

 been destroyed, the gamekeeper removed his dogs back again to his 

 own cottage, which was distant about a mile from where they had 

 been quartered in the wood. On getting up early the next morning, 

 his surprise was great in observing that the turkeys had followed the 

 migration of their protectors, and were all roosting on the trees which 

 overhung the spot to which the dogs and their kennels had just been 

 removed. 



