THE MEXICAN TURKEY. H7 



28 pounds, after being drawn, and I have been inforn.ed that birds mm-li 

 heavier than this one are killed occasionally; which I can ivadily Itelieve, 

 as I have seen tracks of this subspecies along the banks of the San I'cdro 

 River, in Arizona, measuring between f> and (j inches in length, and un- 

 questionably made by a much larger bird than the one killed by me. 



Mr. Herbert Brown, of Tucson, Arizona, writes me as follows: "I have 

 seen many of these Turkeys, a few in Arizona, and I believe thousands in 

 Mexico. Without knowing it positively, I am of the belief that they raise 

 two broods of young a season, as I have seen almost all sizes in the 

 masting season (October) when they congregate in large numbers in the 

 canons to feed on ballotes, a small bitter acorn, common to the canons and 

 parks of southern Arizona and southward. I have seen their roosting places 

 at night, in sycamore (Alisa) trees; I also saw one in an oak grove on the 

 side of a hill, but they appear more to favor the canons. On the head- 

 waters of the Santa Dominga 1 have seen not less than fifty or sixty in a 

 bunch, and Turkey, in those days, was a common camp fare. I have been 

 told by Mexicans that coyotes catch Turkeys by running in circles under 

 their roosting trees, till the birds get dizzy with watching them, and fall 

 down. I never saw it done, but have been assured that it is a fact. 



"This Turkey is quite abundant in the Sierra Ancha, about 130 miles 

 northeast of Tucson, and can be found to a greater or less extent in every 

 timbered range between here and there. One morning while camped in a 

 box canon in Sonora, southeast of the Sierra Azul, I counted thirty-four 

 Turkeys flying over, at another time six, and quite frequently three and 

 four. Times were not so peaceful then as now, and whenever the Turkeys 

 appeared to fly wild, we would be on the lookout for Apache Indians." 



Capt. William L. Carpenter, Ninth Infantry, U. S. Army, writes me as 

 follows: "This bird is quite numerous in the White Mountains, Arizona. 

 I never succeeded in finding the nest, but collected young, able to fly a few. 

 feet, on Black River, Arizona, July 1. Their crops contained grasshoppers 

 and leaves. Later in the season acorns, juniper berries, and pine nuts famish 

 food. It appears to be stronger on the wing than the eastern Turkey and 

 more ready to resort to long flights for safety, frequently alighting in trees 

 for concealment; also, not so readily decoyed by calling." 



The mating season commences according to latitude, from March 1 to 

 the middle of April, by which time some of the birds commence nesting. 



Mr. William Lloyd states: "In 1881, I found many of their roosts in 

 westeni Texas; these birds could be seen by hundreds in the Nueces Cafion 

 near Uvalde; they were equally common in the Frio Canon and the valleys 

 of the Llano and Concho, east to the Colorado River. They mated from 

 the first to the end of March, according to the weather, and would then 

 seek dense brush. 



"Xear a river their nests would be made on small islets surrounded by 

 reeds; on the hills in shin oak clumps. Their principal food being acorns, 



