27 2 CoUES, The Turkey J^ncsiion. Mul'^ 



I have taken this opportunity of describing the unknown first 

 pkmiage and I have exploited the birds themselves in a manner 

 which I trust has been of interest to my readers. The Philadel- 

 phia Vireos themselves, however, may think I have trespassed 

 too much on my acquaintance with them. 



THE TURKEY QUESTION. 



BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES. 



I WOULD not bring up this vexatious matter if we could flatter 

 ourselves that we had settled it acceptably in the A. O. U. Check- 

 List. That we have not done so is evident; for the British 

 Museum Catalogue of 1893 reverses our decision, in so far as 

 nomenclature is concerned ; and we are not likely to be supported 

 in that position by any writers except those who copy us blindly. 

 In my judgment, we are exactly wrong ; and I hope to see the 

 wrong righted in the next edition of the List. 



My contention is, that the name Meleagris gaUopavo^ as now 

 restricted, belongs to the Mexican Turkey, and that some other 

 name must be found to distinguish the Wild Turkey of the United 

 States. There is no material fact of ornithology in dispute ; the 

 issue is simply the proper application of our rules in this instance • 

 it is independent of any question whether the two birds be 

 regarded as full species, or as subspecies ; it is independent also 

 of any question of the availability of Bartram's name amerkana. 

 The point is, to which form of Meleagris does the Linnasan term 

 gallopavo properly attach ? 



On various former occasions when I was treating of these 

 birds — as in all the editions of the 'Key,' in the 'Birds of the 

 Northwest,' in the 'Century Dictionary,' and in other publications, 

 I have taken the ground that M. gallopavo designated the form 

 called J/, mexicana in 1S56 by Gould, on the theory that the 

 Linna^an name was based primarily upon the domestic Turkey, 



