merriam's turkey 325 



Behavior. — Henshaw (1874) writes: 



They roost at night in the large cotton-woods by the streams, and soon 

 after daylight, having visited the stream, they usually betake themselves 

 to the dry hills, where they feed, in the fall, at least, almost exclusively upon 

 the seeds of grasses and grasshoppers. I think they return once or twice 

 during the day to drink, the dry nature of their food rendering a copious 

 supply of water necessary. In these wilds, they appear to be wholly unsuspi- 

 cious, and without knowledge of danger from man, and, if not shot at, will 

 allow one to get within a few yards without manifesting any distrust. They 

 rarely fly, except when very hard pressed, but, when alarmed, run with such 

 rapidity as to quickly outstrip the fleetest foot, betaking themselves to the 

 steep sides of the ravines, which they easily scale, and soon elude pursuit. 

 Apparently, the only dangers they have to fear in these regions are from 

 birds of prey, which attack the young, but more especially from the panthers. 

 In certain portions of the Gila Canyon the tracks of these animals were very 

 numerous, and always these sections appeared to have been entirely depopu- 

 lated of Turkeys, an occasional pile of feathers marking the spot where one 

 had fallen a victim to one of these animals. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range (entire species). — Southern Ontario; the Eastern, Central, 

 and Southern United States, including the southern Kocky Mountain 

 region ; and Mexico, except the extreme western and southern parts. 



The range of the wild turkey has been greatly restricted since the 

 advent of civilization, so that the species is now extirpated through- 

 out New England and the Great Plains. It is still common locally 

 in Pennsylvania (largely through introductions) and in some of the 

 Southern States, as South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, 

 Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 



The complete range of the species extended north to Arizona (Bill 

 Williams Mountain, and San Francisco Mountain) ; formerly Colo- 

 rado (Coventry. Salida, and Buckhorn) ; formerly Nebraska (Valen- 

 tine) ; formerly southeastern South Dakota (Cedar Island, Fort 

 Randall, Yankton, and Vermilion) ; formerly Iowa (Grant City, 

 Ames, and Fort Atkinson) ; formerly southern Wisconsin (Newark, 

 Lake Koshkonong, Waukesha, and Racine) ; formerly southern Mich- 

 igan (Grand Rapids, Locke, and Reece) ; formerly southern Ontario 

 (Mitchells Bay, Plover Mills, and Dundas) ; formerly northern New 

 York (Niagara County) ; and probably formerly southern Maine 

 (Mount Desert Island). East to probably formerly southern Maine 

 (Mount Desert Island) ; formerly Massachusetts (Ipswich, Montague, 

 and Mount Holyoke) ; formerly Connecticut (Northford) ; formerly 

 New Jersey (Sussex County, Raccoon, and Cape May County) ; Vir- 

 ginia (Neabsco Creek and Ashland) ; North Carolina (Walke and the 

 Cape Fear River) ; South Carolina (Georgetown, Santee, Mount 

 Pleasant, and Charleston) ; Georgia (Riceboro, Macintosh, Cumber- 



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