Annotations - William Dean Howells, "Turkeys Turning the Tables" (1892)
put up its tail
A male turkey fans its tail feathers as a courtship display and also as a display of aggression. For example, later in the narrative, when the turkey chicks become enraged at the little girl's arguments for human superiority and the human right to consume inferior species like turkeys, "oldest little he-turkey, that was just beginning to be a gobbler, he dropped his wings and spread his tail just like his father, and walked round the other little girl till it was perfectly frightful." (39)
Idiomatically, the phrase can be defined:
"To have an optimistic, confident, or happy outlook, mindset, or attitude.
We know we have a huge challenge ahead of us, but we'll put our tails up [and] do everything in our power to get a win."
IMAGE CREDIT:
Karen Arnold. “Turkey Vintage Watercolor Painting.” n.date. CC0 Public Domain.