Tbe Mexican Turkey 



299 



ceding race. Even the scientist can only point 

 to the general much darker cast of plumage, and 

 the fact that the white bars upon the primaries 

 are narrower and more broken, and not reaching 

 the shaft of the feather, as in Meleagris sylvestris. 

 The size, eggs, and habits are about the same. 

 The race is confined to Florida. Having no seri- 

 ous grudge against my reader, and not being 

 anxious to inspire a wish that my bars were better 

 defined, and that I were confined to a range nar- 

 rower than Florida, there appears to be no pressing 

 necessity for dwelling further upon this race. 



ELLIOT'S RIO GRANDE TURKEY 



(M. s. ellioti) 



Confined to the wooded lowlands of eastern 

 Mexico and southern Texas, this handsome bird 

 is rightly considered a distinct race. The adult 

 male, while in general appearance resembling 

 M. sylvestris, has the back and rump jet black, and 

 the upper tail-coverts broadly tipped with buff. 

 The adult female is smaller than the male ; gen- 

 eral hue, black, with much metallic lustre ; 

 feathers of upper parts, tipped with gray, while 

 those of the lower parts are tipped with buff. 



THE MEXICAN TURKEY 

 (Meleagris gallopavd) 



This fine species, while not so handsome as 

 M. sylvestriS) usually averages a trifle larger. Its 



