208. 
553. 
554, 
576 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLINZA4 — ALECTOROPODES. 
- 
36. Family MELEAGRIDIDZ: Turkeys. 
Head and upper neck naked, carunculate ; in our species with a dewlap and erectile pro- 
cess. Tarsi naked, scutellate before and behind, spurred in the g. Tail broad, rounded, of 
14-18 feathers. Plumage compact, lustrous; in our species with a tuft of hair-like feathers 
on the breast. One genus, two species. MV. ocellatus is the very beautiful Turkey of Central 
America. 
MELEA/GRIS. (Gr. pedeaypis, Lat. meleagris, a ‘guinea-fowl ; transferred in ornithology to 
this genus.) TURKEYS. Characters of the family. 
M. gallipa/vo. (Lat. gallus, a cock, pavo, a pea-fowl. Fig. 395.) Turkey. Upper tail- 
coverts chestnut, with paler or whitish tips; tail-feathers tipped with brownish-yellow or 
whitish ; 3-4 feet long, ete. Wild in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southward; domesti- 
cated elsewhere. The Mexican bird is the original of the domestic race ; it was upon this 
form, imported into Europe, that Linnzeus imposed the name gallopavo (Fn. Suec. No. 198; 
Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 268), which has generally been applied to the following feral variety : 
M. g. america/na. EASTERN WILD TuRKEY. Upper tail-coverts without light tips, and ends 
of tail-feathers scarcely paler. This is the ordinary wild turkey of Eastern North America; 
N. to Canada, where it is said still to occur ; extirpated in New England. NW. to the 
Missouri, and SW. to Texas. The slight differences just noted seem to be remarkably con- 
stant, and to be rarely if ever shown by the other form; although, as usual in domestic birds, 
this last varies interminably in color. 
37. Family TETRAONID4:: Grouse; Partridge; Quail. 
All the remaining gallinaceous birds are very closely related, probably constituting a 
single family ; although the term Tetraonide@ is usually restricted to the true Grouse as below 
defined (Tetraonine), the Partridges and Quails being erected into another family, Perdicide, 
with several subfamilies. But the Grouse do not appear to differ more from the Partridges 
and Quails than these do from each other, and they are all variously interrelated; so that no 
violence will be offered in uniting them. One group of the Partridges (Odontophorine) is 
confined to America; all the rest to the Old World. The leading forms among the latter are 
Perdix, the true partridge; Coturnix, the true Quail; Francolinus, the Francolins; with 
Rollulus and Caccabis. In all, perhaps a hundred species and a dozen genera. Without 
attempting to frame a family diagnosis to cover all their modifications, I will precisely define 
the American forms, as two subfamilies. 
Analysis of Subfamilies. 
TETRAONINAE. Grouse. The shank (tarsus) more or less feathered. (Plenty more characters, but this 
is perfectly distinctive. ) 
ODONTOPHORINE. American Partridges and Quails. The shank entirely bare and scaly. (Plenty 
more characters, etc. ) 
Ops. — The vernacular names ‘‘ pheasant,” ‘‘ partridge,” and ‘‘ quail,” as applied to our 
game birds in different sections of the country, are the cause of endless confusion and misun- 
derstanding, which it seems hopeless to attempt to do away with. (1.) The word “ pheasant” 
(derived from the name of the river Phasis in Colchis) belongs to certain Old World Phasianide 
(see above; and fig. 394) having no representatives in America. But early settlers of this country 
applied it to the Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa wmbella — and ‘‘ pheasant” is the Rufted Grouse called 
to this day by the common people of the Middle and Southern States. (2.) ‘‘ Partridge” is an old 
English word, specifically designating the English Perdix cinerea, then enlarged in meaning to 
cover all the family Perdicide (see beyond). In the Northern States, both the Spruce Grouse, 
Canace canadensis, and the Ruffed Grouse, are commonly called ‘‘ partridge.” In the Middle 
