THE WII.l) TURKF.Y IN THE MOUNTAINS OF WEST 



VIRGINIA 



Frontispiece 



THE Wild Turkey, in spite of its name, is distinctly an American 

 l)ird which formerly ranged throughout the wooded portion of 

 the eastern United States, from southern Maine and southwest- 

 ern (Ontario, soutli to Florida and southwest to New Mexico and Arizona, 

 whence it extends southward onto the Mexican tablelaud. 



It has now become rare or extirpated in the more settled portions of 

 its range and is rarely found as far north as Pennsylvania and Ohio. 



Throughout its wide range, the Wild Turkey presents some variations 

 in color, the extremes of which are shown by the Eastern Wild Turkey 

 and the Mexicau Wild Turkey. These birds difl'er chiefly in the color 

 of the tips of the tail-feathers and u{)per tail-coverts, which iu the eastern 

 bird are chestnut, and in the Mexican bird, whitish. 



Singularly enough, our barnyard "Turkey is descended from the 

 Mexican bird, which the Spaniards found among the Aztecs in a state of 

 domestication. It was introduced from Mexico into Europe, wliere it 

 had become well established in \n'.]{), and from Euro{)c was l)rought by 

 the colonists to Eastern North America. 



Although the domesticated bird will readily cross with the wild one, 

 no extensive effort has been made to domesticate the latter and the in- 

 habitants of our barnyard still show the whitish tipped tail and tail- 

 coverts of their Mexican ancestors. 



FLORIDA GREAT BUUE HERON 



THE Great Blue Heron, often miscalled "Urane," is distributed 

 throughout North America. On the humid northwest coast it 

 is darker than in Eastern North America; in the arid Great 

 Basin region it is paler, and the Florida form, known as Ward's Heron, 

 is somewhat larger than the others. 



Herons are more aquatic than Cranes and feed largely on fish. 

 In the eastern states they invariably nest in trees, but in the West they 

 often nest among the reeds like Coots. Young Herons are born in a 

 more or less naked condition and are reared in the nest; Cranes are 

 hatched with a downy covering and can run al)out shortly after l)irth. 

 Herons fly with a fold in the neck, but Cranes keep the neck outstretched. 



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