THE TURKEYS. 



103 



of London is nearly white with a shght yellowish-buff tinge; 

 the shell is rather smooth, with some gloss, and not very deeply 

 pitted. Measurements, 1-95 by 1-55 inch. 



THE TURKEYS. GENUS MELEAGRIF. 



Mekagris^ Linn. S. N. i. p. 268 (1766). 

 Type. M. gallopavo (Linn ). 



Head and neck 7iakcd and wattled^ with only a few hair-like 

 feathers; a^ierectile fleshy process o?i the forehead. 



Tail broad and rounded, composed of eighteen feathers, the 

 middle pair not much longer than the outer. 



First primary flight-feather about equal to the tenth, fifth 

 sh'ghtly the longest. Tarsus considerably longer than the 

 middle toe and claw, and armed i?i the males with a large stout 

 si'ur. 



I. THE MEXICAN TURKEY. MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO. 



Mekagris gallopavo^ Linn. S. N. i. p. 268 (1766); Ogilvie- 



Grant, Cat. B. Brit, Mus. xxii. p. 387 (1893). 

 Mekagris mexicana, Gould, P. Z. S. 1856, p. 61 ; Elliot, B. N. 



Amer. ii. pi. 38 (1869); id. Monogr. Phasian. i. pi. 32 



(1872). 

 Mekagris gallopavo inexicana^ Bendire, N. Amer. B. p. 116, 



pi. iii. fig. 15 [egg] 1892 [part]. 



Adult Male. — General colour of plumage black and dark 

 copper-bronze, shot with fiery-green and purplish-bronze. A 

 tassel-like bunch of long, coarse, black, hair-like feathers on 

 the middle of the breast ; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers 

 broadly tipped ivith white, the latter jiever ornamented with 

 metallic ocelli near the extremity, though the outer feathers 

 have a slight metallic band across the middle of the sub- 

 terminal black band ; primary quills equally barred with dark 



