404 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The M. ocellatus ^ of Honduras and Yucatan is a very distinct species, and 

 one which vies witli the Phasianiclm of Asia in the brilliancy of its coloring. 

 It is very rare in collections, and has a very restricted distribution. 



Meleagris gallopavo, var. gallopavo, Linn. 



WILD TURKEY. 



Meleagris (jallopavo, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 156. — Gmelin, I, 1788, 732. — 

 Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 618. — Stephens, in Shaw's Zobl. XI, i, 1819, 156 

 (domestic bird). — Bonap. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 79, pi. ix. — AuD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 

 1 and 33 ; V, 1839, 559, pi. i. — 1b. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 42, pi. cclxxxvii, cclxxxviii. 

 — NuTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 630. — Reichenbach, Systema Av. 1851, pi. xxvi. — Ib. 

 Icones Av. tab. 289. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 615. — Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 25 

 (Southeastern Texas, breeds). — Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 426. ilelcagris americana, Bar- 

 tram, Travels, 1791, 290. i/cZe«^riss?/?t;cs<ns, ViEiLL. Nouv. Diet. IX, 447. Gallopavo 

 sylvestris, Leconte, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. 1857, 179. Meleagris fera, Vieillot, Galerie 

 Ois. II, 1824, 10, pi. X. — Gray. Cat. Gall. V, 42, 1867.— Wild Turkey, Clayton, 

 Philos. Trans. XVII, 1693, 992. — Pennant, Philos. Trans. LXXI, 1781, 67. — Ib. 

 Arctic Zobl. No. 178. American Turkey, Latham, Syn. II, ii, 676. Gallopavo 

 sylvestris, Nova^ Angliw, Ray, Syn. 51. Gallojmvo sylvestris, Catesby, Carol. I, 1730, 

 App. p. xliv. — Brisson, Orn. V, 1760, 162. 



Sp. Char. The naked skin of the head and neck is blue ; the excrescences purplish- 

 red. The legs are red. The feathers of the neck and body generally are very broad, 

 abruptly truncate, and each one well defined and scale-like; the exposed portion coppery- 



Meleagris gallopavo. 



bronze, with a bright coppery reflection in some lights, in the specimens before us chiefly 

 on the under parts. Each feather is abruptly margined with velvet-black, the bronze 

 assuming a greenish or purplish shade near the line of junction, and the bronze itself 

 eometimes with a greenish reflection in some lights. The black is opaque, except along 



1 Meleagris ocellatus, Temm., Cabot, Pr. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. I, 73. 



