272 Coves, The Turkey Question. ae 
I have taken this opportunity of describing the unknown first 
plumage and I have exploited the birds themselves in a manner 
which I trust has been of interest to my readers. The Philadel- 
phia Vireos themselves, however, may think I have trespassed 
too much on my acquaintance with them. 
Weld, MUI OQWiIsS ION, 
BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES. 
I wouLp not bring up this vexatious matter if we could flatter 
ourselves that we had settled it acceptably in the A. O. U. Check- 
List. That we have not done so is evident; for the British 
Museum Catalogue of 1893 reverses our decision, in so far as 
nomenclature is concerned; and we are not likely to be supported 
in that position by any writers except those who copy us blindly. 
In my judgment, we are exactly wrong; and I hope to see the 
wrong righted in the next edition of the List. 
My contention is, that the name JZe/eagris gallopavo, as now 
restricted, belongs to the Mexican Turkey, and that some other 
name must be found to distinguish the Wild Turkey of the United 
States. There is no material fact of ornithology in dispute; the 
issue is simply the proper application of our rules in this instance; 
it is independent of any question whether the two birds be 
regarded as full species, or as subspecies; it is independent also 
of any question of the availability of Bartram’s name americana. 
The point is, to which form of JZe/eagris does the Linnzan term 
gallopavo properly attach ? 
On various former occasions when I was treating of these 
birds —as in all the editions of the ‘ Key,’ in the ‘ Birds of the 
Northwest,’ in the ‘Century Dictionary,’ and in other publications, 
I have taken the ground that AZ. gallopavo designated the form 
called MZ. mexicana in 1856 by Gould, on the theory that the 
Linnzan name was based primarily upon the domestic Turkey, 
