THE FOX. 



83 



ing three large goslings were reported missing. The 

 silly geese now got it through their noddles that there 

 was danger about, and every night thereafter came 

 close up to the house to roost. 



A brood of turkeys, the old one tied to a tree a few 

 rods to the rear of the house, were the next objects of 

 attack. The predaceous rascal came, as usual, in the 

 latter half of the night. I happened to be awake, and 

 heard the helpless turkey cry "Quit, quit," with great 

 emphasis. Another sleeper, on the floor above me, 

 who, it seems, had been sleeping with one ear awake 

 for several nights in apprehension for the safety of his 

 turkeys, heard the sound also, and instantly divined 

 its cause. I heard the window open and a voice sum- 

 mon the dogs. A loud bellow was the response, which 

 caused Reynard to take himself off in a hurry. A mo- 

 ment more, and the mother turkey would have shared 

 the fate of the geese. There she lay at the end of her 

 tether, with extended wings, bitten and rumpled. The 

 young ones roosted in a row on the fence near by, and 

 had taken flight on the first alarm. 



Turkeys, retaining many of their wild instincts, are 

 less easily captured by the fox than any other of our 

 domestic fowls. On the slightest show of danger they 

 take to wing, and it is not unusual, in the locality of 

 which I speak, to find them in the morning perched 

 in the most unwonted places, as on the peak of the 

 barn or hay-shed, or on the tops of the apple-trees, 

 their tails spread and their manners showing much ex- 



