Merriam's Turkey 155 



sound. This courting act, according to Bond, is continued 

 daily during the pairing and nesting season. 



The nest is a depression with a Httle grass lining or 

 sometimes nearly bare, and is usually sheltered by a 

 sage bush or clump of grass. The eggs, about eight 

 in number, are olive-buff to greenish-brown, spotted 

 with chocolate-brown ; the colour is superficial and 

 easily removed from a freshly laid egg. The size 

 averages 2*20 x 1*50. 



They roost on the ground often in the same place, 

 as can be told by their droppings, and in winter they 

 pack into parties of fifty to one hundred birds. 



Family MELEAGRIDIDiE. 

 Characters of the single genus. 



Genus MELEAGRIS. 



Head and. upper-neck naked and earunculate, with an erectile process 

 on the crown ; tarsi naked with scutes in front and behind, that of 

 the male spurred ; tail broad and rounded of 14 — 18 feathers ; plumage 

 lustrous and iridescent. 



This genus contains two species only, and is confined to North 

 America. The domestic bird is without doubt derived from the 

 Mexican race {M. gallapavo Linn.) and the Colorado bird is more 

 closely allied to it than to the wild Tvu-key of eastern North America 

 (M. g. silvestris). 



Merriam's Turkey. Meleagris gallopavo merriami. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 310d— Colorado Records— Pike 10, Vol. ii., 

 pp. 442, 462 (Cones' ed.) ; Ridgway 73, pp. 186, 195 ; Morrison 88, 

 p. 139 ; 89, p. 182 ; Cooke 97, pp. 71, 203 ; Oilman 07, p. 153 ; Warren 

 09, p. 14 ; Felger 09, p. 191. 



Description. — Male — Head and neck bare, dull bluish, with an erectile 

 process hanging from above the bill ; chest with a bristly tuft ; feathers 

 of the under-parts metallic bronzy-green and reddish, tijjped with 

 velvet-black ; feathers of the lower -back and rump inetallic tipped 

 with black ; tail, tail-coverts and feathers of the lower-rump tipped with 

 bnffy-whitish ; iris brown, bill dusky, legs dusky red. Length 48 to 

 50; wing 20-5; tail 16-0; culmen 1-6; tarsus 5-26. The female 

 is sinxilar but duller and smaller. 



