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SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLIN.E — ALECTOROPODES. 



and as such has no standing in ornithology. Meleagris gallopavo mexicana A. 0. U. Lists, 

 1886-95, No. 310 a, has therefore been changed to Meleagris gallopavo A. 0. U. Suppl. 

 List, Jan. 1899, No. 310. See for example Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii, 1893, 

 pp. 387-390, where the synonymy is given for all the forms of the genus; and especially 

 CouES, The Turkey Question, Auk, July, 1897, pp. 272-275. 



M. g. interme'dia. (Lat. intermediate: inter, between, and meclius, middle. Fig. 490.) 

 Texan Wild Turkey. Rio Grande Turkey. Intermediate between the foregoing and 



the following form; ends 

 (jf the upper tail-coverts 

 liuff or somewhat rufous. 

 Eastern Texas and south- 

 ward. 31. gallopavo and 

 M. mexicana of authors 

 referring to the Turkey 

 of tlie Lower Ilio Grande 

 valley. M. gallopavo 

 var. intermedia , Senn. 

 Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. 

 V, No. 3, 1879, p. 428 ; 

 name later changed by 

 Mr. Sennett to M. g. elli- 

 oti, Auk, April, 1892, 

 p. 1G7, pi. 3; A. 0. U. 

 List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 

 310 c. Clianged back to 

 intermedia, Auk, Jan. 

 1899, p. 108, No. 310 c. 

 M. g. fe'ra. (Lat. fera, 

 wild. Fig. 491.) Com- 

 mon Wild Turkey op 

 Eastern North Amer- 

 ica. Upper tail-coverts 

 without light tips, and 

 ends of the tail-feathers 

 scarcely paler. This is 

 the ordinary wild bird, 

 having the ends of the 

 feathers in mention rich 

 chestnut or maroon brown; furthermore, the fleshy frontal finger and the dewlap never show 

 the enormous development they usually acquire in the domestic gallopavo proper. Eastern 

 U. S. from some of the Middle States, and also from southern Ontario, S. to the Gulf coast, 

 W. to the edge of the Great Plains, in the wooded extensions up streams, S. W. to some 

 parts of Texas; formerly N. E. to Maine, but long since extirpated from all New England; 

 formerly N. W. in the Missouri region to North Dakota ; lately extirpated from that state, 

 South Dakota and Nebraska, and become rave in Kansas and Missouri; still abundant in 

 the Indian Territory and some parts of Texas, in different areas of which great State the 

 present and both the preceding occur. The present nortliern limits of distribution include 

 some portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, probably southern Ontario, Michi- 

 gan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This Turkey inhabits woodland, and is resident wher- 

 ever found; breeds Feb.-June, mostly in April ami May. Eggs 10-14 or more, ordinarily a 



Fig. 490. — Elliot's Rio Grande Tiirliey. (From "Game Birds of North America," 

 by D. G. Elliot.) 



