MEXICAN TURKEY. 



pROM this bird came the domesticated race of Tur- 

 keys. It is a common species on the table-lands of 

 Mexico, and within our borders is found in southern and 

 western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona at an altitude 

 of from 3000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. It is a bird of 

 the highlands and mountainous regions, and is rather 

 larger and heavier than the Wild Turkey of the Atlantic 

 States. The light rump with the broad white borders 

 to the feathers, makes it conspicuously different from all 

 its allies, and is one of the characteristic marks of the 

 domestic bird. I found this species very abundant upon 

 the highlands in southern New Mexico near the borders 

 of Arizona, and met with them in flocks of considerable 

 size. They had all the habits of the Eastern bird, and 

 w'ere wary and difficult to approach. It was late in the 

 autumn and the pinon nuts were abundant, and the birds 

 kept closely to the groves of the trees which were 

 covered with these nuts, and apparently fed exclusively 

 upon them. Their flesh was so highly scented by this 

 food that, when the Turkeys were over the fire, they per- 

 fumed the camp with a most appetizing odor, and I 

 know no better dish than a roasted Mexican Turkey 

 that has been fed on piiion nuts. About three miles 

 from one of our camps was a place where the Turkeys 

 were in the habit of roosting, and wt visited the spot 

 several times. On the first occasion I left camp about 

 half an hour before sundown, and came near the roost- 

 ing place just at dark. The Turkeys had selected a 



