NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 15 



with very mucli the same feeding as given to Pheasants they should 

 thrive well, though I have been informed that Lord Ducie intro- 

 duced them into his coverts in Gloucestershire, but found they 

 drove off his Pheasants. If this be the case (and there is no doubt 

 the cocks are very i^ugnacious) it will go greatly against their 

 extensive introduction, more especially as, except as a mark for 

 the pea-rifle, there can be but little sport got out of the Wild Turkey 

 in our comparatively small woods. 



In comparing this bird with our own breeds of Norfolk and 

 Cambridgeshire Turkeys, we find it to be of much the same size as 

 the average of these birds; it stands higher on its legs than the 

 domesticated bird, and is of far finer, or, as we might call it, 

 more "gamey" shape; especially is this noticeable in the head, 

 which is most symmetrical and very small, with a wonderful, bright, 

 sharp eye. The legs are a dull red, and those of the males are 

 furnished with most formidable spurs. The plumage of the cock 

 is of the most perfect bronze colour, and when the sun shines on 

 the bird his feathers fairly gleam again like a splendid coat of 

 mail. From his breast hangs a handsome tassel of "hair," or 

 hair-like feathers. The only feathers in the bird approaching 

 dulness are those of the wing and tail, which are of a mottled 

 brown and white. The plumage of the female is duller than that 

 of the male, but differs in no other respect. These birds lay 

 sixteen to twenty eggs before sitting, and take thirty-one days to 

 hatch their eggs. Formerly they were very plentiful in Canada, 

 west of Toronto, but now are becoming extremely rare, and are 

 met with in the greatest numbers in some of the least settled 

 of the Western and Southern States. 



Mr Gray mentioned, in reference to the Wild Turkey as 

 catalogued by scientific ornithologists, that there are now supposed 

 to be three different species of Meleagris, besides the M. ocellata 

 of Honduras and other parts of Central America; namely, 

 M. americana, which is probably peculiar to the eastern half 

 of North America; M. mexicana of Gould, a species belonging 

 to Mexico and extending along the table lands to the Eocky 

 Mountains; and a third, the M. (jallii)avo of Linnaeus, our 

 domesticated bird. This last species was perhaps originally 

 indigenous to one or more of the West India islands, whence it 

 was taken in a tamed state to various parts of North America, 

 and thence to Europe about the year 1520. The domesticated 



