THE TURKEYS. IG7 



vl. (1831) ; id. B. Amer. v. p. 42, pis. 287, 28S (1842) ; 

 Elliot, Monogr. Phasian. i. pi. 30 (1872); Bendire, N. 

 Am. B. p. 112, pi. iii. fig. 14 (1892; part). 



Adult Male. — Differs chiefly from M. gallopavo in having 

 the lower rump, flanks, upper and under tail-coverts, and 

 tail-feathers tipped with deep chest?uit-;naroo?i, and the white 

 bars of the primary quills rather narrower, but as wide, or 

 nearly as wide, as the dark interspaces. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but distinguished by 

 having the feathers of the lower back and under-parts fringed 

 with chestnut, those of the nape extending to the crown, and 

 the pectoral tassel and spurs wanting. 



Habits. — " The breeding range of the Wild Turkey, the 

 largest and finest of our game-birds, is yearly becoming more 

 and more restricted, and at the present rate of decrease its 

 total extinction east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio 

 River is only a question of a few years. . . . 



"The Wild Turkey is a resident wherever found. Numerous 

 records attest the abundance of this magnificent game-bird 

 throughout the Southern New England States in former years, 

 and evidences of its existence have been found in Southern 

 Maine. 



" The Wild Turkey is essentially a woodland bird, and in- 

 habits the damp and often swampy bottom lands along the 

 borders of the larger streams, as well as the drier mountainous 

 districts found within its range, spending the greater part of 

 the day on the ground in search of food, and roosting by night 

 in the tallest trees to be found. From constant persecution 

 in the more settled portions of its range, it has become by far 

 the most cunning, suspicious, and wary of all our game-birds, 

 while in sections of the Indian Territory and Texas, where it 

 has, till recently, been but little molested, it is still by no means 

 a shy bird. . . . 



"These birds feed on beechnuts, acorns (especially those of 



