334 BULLETIN" 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



much alike, and they resemble the adult female. Wilson (1832) 

 says: 



On the approach of the first winter the young males show a rudiment of the 

 beard or fascicle of hairs on the breast, consisting of a mere tubercle, and 

 attempt to strut and gobble ; the second year the hairy tuft is about three inches 

 long; in the third the turkey attains its full stature, although it certainly in- 

 creases in size and beauty for several years longer. 



Audubon's (1840) statement is similar. 

 Wilson (1832) says of the female: 



Females four years old have their full size and colouring ; they then possess 

 the pectoral fascicle, four or five inches long (which, according to Mr. Audubon, 

 they exhibit a little in the second year, if not barren), but this fascicle is much 

 thinner than that of the male. The barren hens do not obtain this distinction 

 until a very advanced age; and, being preferable for the table, the hunters 

 single them from the flock and kill them in preference to the others. The female 

 wild turkey is more frequently furnished with the hairy tuft than the tame one, 

 and this appendage is gained earlier in life. The great number of young hens 

 without it has no doubt given rise to the incorrect assertion of a few writers that 

 the female is always destitute of it. 



Adults apparently have only one complete postnuptial molt in 

 August and September. A fully grown gobbler seldom weighs more 

 than 20 or 25 pounds, even when in good condition ; there are some, 

 apparently authentic, records of birds weighing between 30 and 40 

 pounds, but such cases must be very rare; reported records of 50 

 pounds are unreliable. 



Food. — Dr. Sylvester D. Judd (1905a) found that the stomachs 

 and crops of 16 wild turkeys examined by the Biological Survey 



contained 15.57 percent of animal matter and 84.43 percent of vegetable matter. 

 The animal food consisted of insects — 15.15 percent — and miscellaneous in- 

 vertebrates, such as spiders, snails, and myriapods — 0.42 percent. Grasshoppers 

 furnished 13.92 percent, and beetles, flies, caterpillars, and other insects 1.23 per- 

 cent. The 84.43 percent of the bird's vegetable food was distributed as follows : 

 " Browse," 24.80 percent ; fruit, 32.98 percent ; mast, 4.60 percent ; other seeds, 

 20.12 percent ; miscellaneous vegetable matter, 1.93 percent. 



Judd says that they are very fond of grasshoppers and crickets, 

 and that 



during the Nebraska invasion of Rocky Mountain locusts, Professor Aughey 

 examined the contents of six wild turkey stomachs and crops collected during 

 August and September. Every bird had eaten locusts, in all amounting to 259. 

 The wild turkey has been known also to feed on the cotton worm (Alabama, 

 argillacea), the leaf hoppers, and the leaf-eating beetles (Chrysomela suturalis). 

 The grasshopper (Arnilia sp.) and the thousand-legs (Julus) form part of the 

 turkey's bill of fare. Tadpoles and small lizards also are included. 



Of a bird shot in Virginia, he says : 



Ten percent of its food was animal matter and 90 percent vegetable. The 

 animal part consisted of 1 harvest spider (Phalangidae), 1 centipede, 1 

 thousand-legs (Julus), 1 ichneumon fly (Ichneumon unifasieulata), 2 yellow- 



