UPLAND GAME BIRDS: TURKEYS, QUAILS AND PHEASANTS 



(Families Meleagridae, Odontophoridae and Phasianidae) 



BY A. A. ALLEN, PH.D. 



ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ORNITHOLOGY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



WHY our Thanksgiving bird bears the name of 

 turkey will always be a mystery. So long ago 

 was it christened that we can never expect to 

 learn whether the nom-de-phnne originated in some mis- 

 taken notion of the bird's native land or whether it was 

 given it in an effort to translate its call of "turk-turk- 

 turk." At any rate, turkey it is and always will be, to 

 the small boy 

 with a drum- 

 stick in each 

 hand or to the 

 scientist who 

 writes after it 

 Meleagris gal- 

 lipavo. 



There are 

 two species of 

 wild turkeys, 

 but the second, 

 called the ocel- 

 lated turkey, 

 will doubtless- 

 ly never be- 

 come of im- 

 portance out- 

 side of muse- 

 ums because 

 it is restricted 

 to the penin- 

 sula of Yuca- 

 tan and a small 

 portion of the 

 adjacent parts 

 of Guatemala 

 and Honduras 

 and shows no 

 p r o p e nsities 

 tor domestica- 

 tion or arti- 

 ficial extension of its range. Nevertheless it is a beau- 

 tiful bird, smaller than the common wild turkey with 

 purplish reflection on its back and with eyelike spots 

 on its tail in addition to the typical bands. The body 

 feathers are tipped with brilliant golden and coppery 

 bronze and the head and wattles are deep blue covered 

 with orange tubercles. In its brilliancy, it is quite 

 suggestive of some of the pheasants. 



The common wild turkey which was originally found 

 from Maine and Southern Ontario to Southern Mexico, 

 varies to such an extent in different parts of its range 

 that five recognizable forms or sub-species have been 



described ; one from Southern Mexico, one from North- 

 western Mexico and Colorado, one from Northeastern 

 Mexico and Texas, one from Southern Florida, and the 

 common wild turkey, found from Georgia to Maine and 

 Ontario. It is from the South-Mexico bird that our 

 domesticated turkey is descended, the tail coverts and 

 bands in the tail of each being gray while corresponding 



parts of the 

 common wild 

 turkey are a 

 rich chestnut. 

 It is supposed 

 that birds do- 

 mesticated by 

 the Indians 

 were brought 

 back to Eu- 

 rope by the 

 C o n q u e s ta- 

 dores because 

 they had be- 

 c o m e estab- 

 lished in many 

 parts of Eu- 

 rope as early 

 as 1530. Do- 

 me s t i c a t ed 

 birds were 

 brought to 

 Eastern North 

 America b y 

 the early colo- 

 nists and many 

 of them, it is 

 believed, hy- 

 bridized with 

 the wild turk- 

 eys, as they 

 still do where 

 opportunity offers, until in some places, where the wild 

 turkey is still found, it is rather difficult to find pure 

 wild blood. 



The wild turkey was originally an inhabitant of the 

 open woodlands of all the Eastern States and those as 

 far west as Kansas and Oklahoma. Today it has been 

 exterminated in New York and New England and is 

 confined to the rougher and more remote portions of 

 Pennsylvania and Virginia, the larger swamps of the 

 Southern States and the thinly settled portions of the 

 Mississippi Valley and is everywhere fast following the 

 passenger pigeon and Carolina parroquet into history. 



THE PHEASANT IS AN ORNAMENTAL BIRD 

 is easily naturalized and is very attractive on spacious lawns. 



543 



