KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 61 



this and the narrow gold fringe is a narrower band of velvety black. The 

 upper tail coverts, and tail feathers have about thirty narrow transverse bars 

 of dark brown, alternating with an equal number of white ones, which are 

 mottled with darker. In most of the specimens these bars are lost in the 

 fine mottlings of gray. In addition to this, there is in the old male a distinct 

 rufous tinge over all this part of the feather, more or less distinct according 

 to age. The fringe, which rests on a solid band of burnished gold, is about 

 three-quarters of an inch long, and is of the most brilliant metallic bronze, 

 changing to an iridescent green. Between this and the gray mottling there 

 is a double eye-spot of metallic blue, with purple reflections. These spots 

 are very showy, and generally surrounded by a velvety-black band about 

 three-sixteenths of an inch in width, the ends of which meet the shaft in such 

 a way as to form a heavy, black, W-shaped figure. From the neck to the 

 tail the plumage passes insensibly through all the gradations and changes 

 from the simple markings and colorings of the former to the gorgeous beauty 

 of the latter. The primaries are transversely barred with black and white. 

 In all young specimens the black bars are wider, and the black prevails, 

 while in the older specimens the white predominates. The larger wing- 

 coverts, which form a conspicuous band on the wing, have their outer webs 

 of a beautiful iridescent bronze color. The feathers of the breast and other 

 under parts are deep black, with occasional reflections of green and purple, 

 and each feather is tipped with bronze. The under tail-coverts have nearly 

 the same markings as the upper, but the colors are if possible brighter and 

 more striking. The naked skin of the head and neck is of a bright azure 

 blue, except the fleshy processes, which are bright crimson or scarlet. Spurs 

 and claws, dark horn-color; tarsus and toes, bright rose-color; iris, reddish- 

 brown. Length, 40.12 inches; wing, 16.25; tail, 14.00; extent of wings, 48.00. 

 The female diflfers from the male only in size, being very much smaller; the 

 absence of the spur; the head, which is less ornamented, and the colors 

 generally, which are possibly a little less brilliant and showy. 



When seen at a distance and in the shade, the Golden Turkey is of a pure 

 velvet-black color, but when he approaches the hunter in a brilliant tropical 

 sunshine, with the tail spread and feathers raised, this most gorgeously at- 

 tired of all American birds seems a miniature world of sparkling gems set in 

 burnished gold, silver and bronze. Tongue cannot tell, pen describe, nor 

 artist paint the splendor of its plumage. 



This bird was once abundant in Yucatan, Guatemala and Honduras. At 

 present it is seldom seen in the settled portions of the country, and is only 

 occasionally met with in the uninhabited forests beyond the limits of civiliza- 

 tion. It is the shyest of all living birds, is a swift runner and a good flier. 

 It cannot be trapped, and can only be shot at night and when asleep, and 

 then with the utmost caution in approaching, as it is easily startled, and flies 

 as well at dead of night as at mid-day. Like all the turkeys, the M. ocel- 

 lata is gregarious, and is sometimes seen in very large flocks. I once counted 

 sixty-two roosting on three trees which stood closely together. 



