The comet., 1880-04-17
THE ROOSTER AND THE eoBBLER
An Essay On Natural History.
BY pHILos coMETosE.

A Turkey Gobbler is not as good a
fighter as Rooster. He is not as
well armed, but he has the advantage
in weight. He has no inclination to
crow, but he can get away with the
Rooster on the strut. Hardly any
other person in creation can excel n
young Gobbler in strutting around
just after his beard grows out. From
the grand airs he puts ON at this age,
a man would be justified in concluding
that he was a natural born dandy.
But Gobbler is not all strut and
feathers. 1t is mistake to set him
down as non-combatant or as a
coward. A Gobbler has grit. He
prefers to obey the laws and to be
peaceable citizen, very rarely picks a
quarrel with Il gentlemen of his own
race, but when a Rooster comes in his
territory and begins to banter and crow,
as Rooster will, the Gobbler don't
like it; still he don't rush into per-
sonal difficulty. But he amt afraid.
If he must fight he wants to have the
law on his side. And here is just
where the Rooster makes mistake
about the Gobbler. He, (the Rooster }
is naturally vain and belligerent, and
he thinks his improved arms are a
terror to Turkey, and SO they are.
The Gobbler would greatly prefer to
cultivate peaceable relations with all
mankind and avoid private brawls.
But this paciticatory policy has no
charms for the Rooster. He must
have a distinct acknowledgment of
his superior prowess or a fight.
And this position leaves the
Gobbler no chance to retreat
with honor. Consequently when
a Rooster and Gobbler take up their
residence on the same farm a fight is
inevitable, and it is not always that
the Rooster wins. | have witnessed
lately several contests between these
individuals, and it most generally
turns out that the Rooster in the frs t
few rounds gains a decided advantage
by his deXterity and bullyism and
much growing. But the Gobbler
shows no signs of running, carefully
husbands his wind, and says little or
nothing, while the Rooster is gradual
ly eXhausting his enthusiasm through
his scientific attempts to stick his
spurs into the naked legs of his antag-
onist. This the Gobbler averts by
keeping a sharp eye on the movements
Of the foe, and whenever he makes q
plunge, himself rises with the emer-
gency and if the Rooster is not careful
he will find that he has not only made |
an Intellectual thrust but that his
equilibrium is lost and he is tempor-
arily under the feet of the enemy.
Every time the Gobbler treads Oh the
Rooster he mashes a certain amount
Of wind out of that warrior, and he
knows it. By and by, the Rooster
develops an inclination to get little
further off when he cusses. The
stands his ground. Recover
ing himself somewhat, and looking
around and observing that the eyes of
his 1avorite pullet are upon him, the
Rooster once more darts at the foe,
but the Gobbler lifts himself out of
reach again and sits down on the
hero and this time nabs the poor,
MINDLESS Rooster by the
back of the head with his teeth, shakes
him around until he is dizzie and
ruined, and thus the contest ends.
But | give the Rooster credit for
genius. If the pullet is not on hand he
displays great tact and strategy in
'etiring from a contest which is too
much for him.