442 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. IX. 



Family PHASIANID^. Pheasants, 

 Turkeys, etc. 



The family Phasianidas contains nearly' one hundred species and 

 includes the Jungle Fowl, the Asiatic Pheasants, some of them of 

 gorgeous plumage, and the well known Peacock; also in America the 

 splendid Ocellated Turkey of Yucatan and the Wild Turkey, from 

 which our domestic race is supposed to have descended. In the United 

 States the Wild Turkey is becoming less and less common every year 

 and is fast becoming rare or has entirely disappeared in many local- 

 ities where it was once abundant. Several subspecies are recog- 

 nized. 



Subfamily MELEAGRIN^E. Turkeys. 



Genus MELEAGRIS Linn. 

 146. Meleagris gallopavo silvestris (VIEILL.). 

 WILD TURKEY. 



Distr. : Eastern United States (except southern Florida, where it is 

 replaced by the Florida Wild Turkey), north to Virginia, Wisconsin, 

 Michigan, and Kansas. 



The Wild Turkey resembles the domestic turkey, but differs in 

 having the upper tail coverts and tail tipped with chestnut, the prima- 

 ries more broadly barred with white, and the legs decidedly pink red; 

 bare skin of head, pale blue, the excrescences, purplish red. 



Length, 40 to 50 inches; wing, 20 to 22; tail, about 18. 



Wild Turkeys were formerly abundant in Wisconsin and Illinois, 

 but for many years- none have been observed in the former state. 

 Kumlien and Hollister (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 58) say: "Residents 

 of the extreme southwestern counties claim that a few were found 

 among the bluffs near the river as late as 1894." 



It has apparently disappeared from northern Illinois, but is 

 still to be found in the heavily wooded districts in the southern 

 portion of the state*. Mr. Ferry reports a flock having been seen 

 near Olive Branch in February, 1907. 



Regarding the occurrence of Wild Turkeys in the vicinity of Chi- 

 cago, Mr. H. K. Coale having kindly placed his journal at my dis- 

 posal, I quote the following: "March 23, 1878, met several hunters 



*Mr. A. H. Felger states that five Wild Turkeys were killed in Clinton Co., southern Illinois, 

 in October, 1903. (The Auk, Vol. xxvi, 1909, p. 78.) 



