ELLIOT'S RIO GRANDE TURKEY. 



'T'HIS handsome race of the Wild Turkey is restricted, 

 so far as is known at present, to the lowlands of 

 eastern Mexico and southern Texas, ranging not far- 

 ther south than Vera Cruz nor north of the Brazos 

 River, or about ten degrees of latitude. This is the dis- 

 persion given to the bird by its describer, my friend Mr. 

 George B. Sennett. It is a dweller of the woodlands 

 and is not met with much, if any, above an altitude of 

 2000 feet. While having the general appearance of the 

 eastern Wild Turkey it differs from that and all the other 

 races in many particulars; and the hen is unlike that of 

 any other species or race of Turkeys known at the 

 present day. No evidence of its intergrading w^ith the 

 common species has yet been obtained, but it is expected 

 that it would interbreed with that bird wherever the 

 limits of their dispersion came in contact. It has always 

 been confounded with the Common Wild Turkey, and 

 although its peculiar coloring and marking had been 

 observed and commented on by many ornithologists it 

 was not until lately that sufficient specimens were 

 •obtained, and its restricted habitat known, to prove its 

 claim to be considered as a distinct race. Its habits 

 are the same as those already described in the articles on 

 the other races, and in beauty and brilliancy of its 

 metallic coloring, as well as in size, it is not inferior to 

 any of the Wild Turkeys inhabiting Mexico and the rest 

 of the continent lying to the northward. The female 

 varies greatly from the male, and in fact she is difTer- 



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