454 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO GALLOPAVO Linnaeus 



South Mexican Turkey 



Adult male. — Similar to that of M. g. silvestris but smaller, the tail 

 much less rufescent — dusky natal brown very abundantly flecked with 

 clove brown to fuscous, the median feathers with their median areas 

 broadly solid clove brown, the outer few pairs with incomplete russet bars 

 on their basal two-thirds, the black subterminal bar deeper black and 

 broader than in silvestris and, on the lateral feathers with an included 

 band of metallic greenish-bluish reflections, the rectrices tipped with white 

 slightly tinged with pale tilleul buff to light pinkish buff ; feathers of rump 

 and upper tail coverts, flanks, and under tail coverts broadly tipped with 

 tilleul buff to light pinkish buff, nearest in this respect to M. g. merriami; 

 feathers of upper back, breast, and upper abdomen less bronzy more bril- 

 liantly coppery and greenish, as in M. g. osceola; lower back and rump 

 blackish with narrow bluish tips and with subterminal blue-green reflec- 

 tions, nearest in this character to M. g. merriami; outer secondaries with 

 fairly continuous white edges ; inner secondaries much grayer, less rufes- 

 cent than M. g. silvestris — hair brown mottled on the inner web with 

 drab to light drab, and with a purplish sheen on the outer web; tarsal 

 spurs shorter and stubbier than in M. g. silvestris. 



Adult female. — Similar to that of M. g. merriami but with the upper 

 body plumage highly glossed with greenish and reddish metallic reflec- 

 tions. 



Adult male.—Wmg 465-513 (489); tail 345-400 (372.5); culmen 

 from cere 34-38.5 (35.8) ; tarsus 162-176 (168.4) ; middle toe without 

 claw 74-85 (79.9) ; length of tarsal spur 14.5-16.5 (15.5) ; diameter of 

 tarsal spur 11.5-14 (12.8 mm.).^^ 



Adult female.— Wmg 396-416 (405.6) ; tail 311-323 (319.8) ; culmen 

 from cere 32.5-36 (34.6); tarsus 130-140 (135); middle toe without 

 claw 65-71.5 (68.6 mm.).^^ 



Range. — Resident from Veracruz (Mirador, Zacnapam) westward to 

 Michoacan (La Salada) and to Oaxaca. 



Type /oca/i/j'.— Mexico ; restricted (by Moore, Auk, Iv, 1938, 113) to 

 Mirador, Veracruz. 



[Melcagris] gallopavo Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, i, 1758, 156, part (North 

 America ; based on Melcagris Fauna Suecica, 164 ; Gallopavo sylvestris nov<p- 

 aihglia Ray, Av., 51; Albin, Av., iii, 33, pi. 35; /3 Gallopavo Gesner, Av., 482; 

 Aklrovandi, Orn., 13, pi. 4; Bell, Av., 60, a; Jonston, Av., 58, pi. 24; Willughby, 

 Orn., 113, pi. 27; Ray, Av., 51 y Gallopavo cristatus Albin, Av., ii, 30, pi. 33) ; 

 ed. 12, i, 1766, 268, part.— Latham, Synop. Birds, Suppl., i, 1787, 289; Index 

 Orn., ii, 1790, 618 part.— Gmelin, Syst. Nat, i, pt. 2, 1788, 732, part.— Gray, 

 Hand-list, ii, 1870, 262, No. 9627.— Sharpe, Hand-list, i, 1899, 43, part. 



"' Four specimens from Veracruz and Michoacan. 

 ^° Five specimens from Veracruz and Michoacan. 



