THE WILD TURKEY 285 



of these subspecies are slight, and the sportsman will 

 do well to try to learn the geographical ranges of the 

 different forms, for in most cases the locality will be 

 to him a better guide in identifying the bird he kills 

 than will any color description. The Mexican turkey 

 is markedly different from the bird of the East, and 

 the two will readily be distinguished. The differences 

 between the various turkeys are found chiefly in the 

 coloring of the rectrices, or tail feathers, and of the 

 tail coverts and the primaries. 



The original wild turkey to which the name Melea- 

 gris gallopavo was given has been shown to be the 

 bird later described by Gould as the Mexican wild 

 turkey. It is notably different from the eastern form, 

 for its tail, tail coverts and the feathers of the lower 

 rump are tipped with white or whitish, while the 

 eastern and northern turkey has those feathers tipped 

 with deep rusty or even with rich dark chestnut. The 

 ordinary domestic turkey shows the whitish tippings 

 of the feathers of tail, tail coverts and lower rump 

 characters derived from its ancestor, the turkey of 

 Mexico. The Mexican turkey occupies the wooded 

 mountain slopes bordering the Mexican tablelands on 

 the south and west, ranging north to Chihuahua, but 

 it does not reach the United States. Mr. Nelson has 

 shown where it grades into Merriam's turkey on 

 the north, while to the south in southeastern Mexico 

 and Central America, it is replaced by a strikingly dis- 

 tinct species, the brilliantly hued ocellated turkey. 



The eastern wild turkey, which was long considered 



