WILD TURKEY. 



I N the United States there are at present recognized 

 four different kinds of Wild Turkeys, resembUng each 

 other, as would naturally be supposed, in many par- 

 ticulars, but each having its own peculiarities and well- 

 defined limits of dispersion. The present species is the 

 well-known bird of the Eastern portion of the Union, 

 north of Florida, and formerly was much more exten- 

 sively distributed than it is at the present day. From 

 various causes, but chiefly too much killing, it has entirely 

 disappeared from many localities in which it w^as formerly 

 abundant, and become greatly lessened in others, and its 

 range is yearly being gradually more restricted, as 

 though the fate that has befallen so many wild creatures 

 would also, in an altogether too brief period, overtake 

 this noble bird, and another name be added to the list of 

 the members of our Fauna that have become extinct. 

 In the Atlantic States, where it formerly was found from 

 southern Maine to Florida, a few are now left in certain 

 parts of Pennsylvania, which is its northern limit, becom- 

 ing more abundant to the southward. Some are still 

 met with in wooded districts of Ohio, in the southern 

 parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, and the States lying 

 on the west side of the Mississippi to Texas. It is com- 

 mon in the Indian Territory, and not scarce in the Gulf 

 States and parts of Texas. It used to be frequently met 

 with in certain portions of Canada, but if any remain to- 

 day they would probably be found in southwestern 

 Ontario. 



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