THE LIVING WORLD. 
3 73 
discovered, using various wiles by which to draw the intruder from the spot. 
As soon as the young are hatched she takes them under her charge, and the 
whole family go wandering about to great distances, at first returning to the 
nest at night, but afterwards crouching in any suitable spot. Marshy places 
are avoided by 
the turkey , as wet 
is fatal to the 
young birds until 
they have at- 
tained their 
second suit of 
clothes, and wear 
feathers instead of 
down. As soon as 
they are about a 
fortnight old they 
are able to get 
up into trees, 
and roost in the 
branches, safe 
from most of the 
numerous ene¬ 
mies which beset 
their path through 
life. 
The great 
horned owl is, ptarmigan. 
however, still able 
and willing to snatch them from the branches, and would succeed oftener in 
its attempts, were it not baffled by the instinctive movements of the turkey. 
Even the slight rustling of the owl’s wings sets the watchful turkeys on the 
alert, and with anxious eyes they note his movements as he sails dark and 
lethal over them in the moonbeams, his large lambent eyeballs glowing with 
opalescent light—a feathered Azrael im¬ 
pending over them, and with fearful 
deliberation selecting his victim. Sud¬ 
denly the swoop is made, but the intended 
victim is ready for the assault; as it dips 
down its head, flattens its tail over its 
back, and the owl, striking upon this im¬ 
provised shield, finds no hold for his claws 
and slides off his prey like water from a 
duck’s back. The whole flock, drop from 
the boughs, and are safely hidden among 
the dark underwood before their enemy has recovered himself and renewed 
the attack. 
The lynx is a terrible foe to the turkeys , bounding suddenly among them, 
and as they hastily rise into the air to seek the shelter of the branches, the 
lynx leaps upwards and strikes them down with his ready paw, just as a cat 
HEATHER SNOW HEN, OR WHITE PTARMIGAN. 
