MEXICAN TURKEY. 
ROM this bird came the domesticated race of Tur- 
keys. It is a common species on the table-lands of 
Mexico, and within our borders is found in southern and 
western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona at an altitude 
of from 3000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. It is a bird of 
the highlands and mountainous regions, and is rather 
larger and heavier than the Wild Turkey of the Atlantic 
States. The light rump with the broad white borders 
to the feathers, makes it conspicuously different from all 
its allies, and is one of the characteristic marks of the 
domestic bird. I found this species very abundant upon 
the highlands in southern New Mexico near the borders 
of Arizona, and met with them in flocks of considerable 
size. They had all the habits of the Eastern bird, and 
were wary and difficult to approach. It was late in the 
autumn and the pinon nuts were abundant, and the birds 
kept closely to the groves of the trees which were 
covered with these nuts, and apparently fed exclusively 
upon them. Their flesh was so highly scented by this 
food that, when the Turkeys were over the fire, they per- 
fumed the camp with a most appetizing odor, and I 
know no better dish than a roasted Mexican Turkey 
that has been fed on pinon nuts. About three miles 
from one of our camps was a place where the Turkeys 
were in the habit of roosting, and we visited the spot 
several times. On the first occasion I left camp about 
half an hour before sundown, and came near the roost- 
ing place just at dark. The Turkeys had selected a 
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