TURKEYS. 435 

are washed with purple, and the breast and under-parts are cobalt-blue, but black 
down the middle. The tail-feathers resemble the upper-parts in their markings, 
but the middle pair are much elongated and pointed. The male is similar to 
the female, but larger, and with four or five wart-like knobs on each leg. 
The last group of the family is a somewhat aberrant one, com- 
prising the turkeys, all of which are natives of North and Central 
America, where three distinet 
species and two local races are 
known. ‘The common turkey 
(Meleagris gallopavo) comes 
from the table-lands of 
Northern Mexico and_ the 
neighbouring States, and is 
recognised by the broad white 
tips to the upper tail-coverts 
and tail; while in the species 
(M. americana) of the Eastern 
States these parts are dark 
chestnut. The handsomest 
member of the groupis, however, 
theocellated turkey(JZ ocellata) 
of Guatemala, Yucatan, and 
British Honduras, each of the 
tail-feathers being ornamented 
with a greenish blue eye-spot 
shot with purple, while the 
metallic parts of the body- 
feathers are golden or bronze- 
COMMON TURKEY. green, and the naked head and 
Turkeys. 







