402 NORTH AMEKICAX UIRDS. 



Family MELEAGRIDiE. — The Tuukeys. 



C.iAR. Bill ni„d.M-.ito ; tl.o nasal lbs«o l.aro. Head and neck without fcaliuTS but 

 wilh s.'attfif.l liaiis, and n.oio or loss caruuculatcd. An extensil.le fleshy process on the 

 loiehcad, but MO dt'velopnuMit of the bone. Tarsus aimed witii spurs in the male. Hind 

 toe elevated. Tail nearly as long as the wing, truncate, of more than twelve feathers. 



Tlie family Mclcafjrida', or Turkeys, as at present known, is entirely con- 

 fined to North and Middle America, and represented only hy the genus 

 Mvhwjris. It forms, in combination with the Guinea-fowls {Namididw), the 

 riieasants and conunon fowls {Phusianidcv), and the Grouse and rartritlges 

 {Tdrmnidcv), a peculiar group, to which the name Alcderopodcs has been 

 given by Professor Huxley; this group is well distinguished from the 

 Cracidcc and the Mvf/cqjodidw (which form together an opposed group, called 

 Pcriskropodcs), in addition to the characters eimmerated under the ianiily 

 nanies, by s. lient characters developed in the sterinim. In the present 

 family and its relations, as all may recall from experience at the dinner- 

 table, the sternum, or breast-bone, is divided into a long narrow keel (lophos- 

 teon) extending far backwards ; while towards the front, from each side, and 

 separated by a very dee]) notch from the median portion, a wing (pleiiros- 

 teon) originates obliquely, and, soon splitting in two, extends also far back- 

 wards ; in front, two processes (called costal) project well forwards. In the 

 Cracidcc and Mcijapodidcv, on the contrary, the sternum is not so split, the 

 keel and wing, as above, being more continuous and the notch compara- 

 tively shallow; the costal processes are also comparatively small and obtuse. 

 Externally the Turkeys have considerable resemblance to the Guinea- 

 fowls {Numididw), but they differ from them in having a backward process 

 of the second metacarpal bone, and in the form of the costal processes of 

 the sternum and of the acromial process of the scapular ; while they are dis- 

 tinguished from the Guinea-fowls and all others by the form of the pelvis 

 (the post-acetabular area is greater than the pre-acetabular, and is also longer 

 than broad), and by the furcula (wish-bone), which is very weak and 

 straight, with its point (hypocleidium) straight and rod-like. To Professor 

 Huxley we are indebted for having first pointed out most of these characters. 

 Although the number of known species of Mckarjridai as we understand 

 them, is limited to two now living, the I'amily was apparently well repre- 

 sented in former geological periods, no less than three having been already 

 described from more or less perfect remains ; of these, two have been found 

 in the post-pleiocene of New Jersey, one of which {Mcleacjris altus, Marsh, 

 or M. supcrhus. Cope) was taller than the common Turkey, while the other 

 {Mclcngris cclcr, Afarsh) was much smaller. The third species {Mcleagris 

 antiquns, Marsh) lived at a still earlier date, its remains having been 

 obtained in the miocene bctls of Colorado. 



