PHASIANID^ — THE PHKASANTa. O 



Meleagris gallopavo (Liiiu.) 



WILD TITEKEY. 



Meleagris gallopavo Linn. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758. 156; ed. 12. i, 1766, 268.— Add. Orn. Biog. i. 



1831. 1. pis. 1. 6; V. 183'.t, 559; Synop. 1839. 194; B. Am. v. 1812, 42, pis. 287, 288.— NUTT. 



Man. i, 1832, 630.— Baird. B. N. Am. 1858, 651; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. •457.— B. B. & R. 



Hist. N. Am. B. iii, 1874. 404.— A. O. U. Chock List. 1886, No. 310.— Ridgw. Man. N. Am. 



B. 1887, 207. 

 Meleagris amerivana Bartb. Travels, 1791. 290. 

 Meleagris gallopavo var. americana CouES. Key, 1872. 232; Check List, 1874, No. 379 a; B. 



N. W. 1874. 391. 

 Meleagris gallopavo americana Kidgw. Nom. N. Am. 1881. No. 470 a.— CouES, 2d Check 



List, 1882. No. 554. 



Hab. Eastern United States, north to southern Minnesota and Dakota. Ontario, etc.— 

 formerly to Massachusetts and Vermont, but now extinct in most parts of the northeast- 

 ern States; south to the Gulf coast (including Florida); west to Iowa, eastern Kansas, In- 

 dian Territory, and eastern Texas. 



Sp. Chae. The naked skin of the head and neck is blue; the excrescences purplish red 

 and whitish. The legs dull red. The feathers of the neck and body generally are very 

 broad, abruptly truncate, and each one well defined and scale-like; the exposed portion 

 coppery bronze, with a bright coppery reflection in some lights, most brilliant on the under 

 parts. Each feather is abruptly margined with velvety black, the bronze assuming a 

 greenish or purplish shade near the line of junction, and the bronze itself sometimes with 

 a greenish reflection in some lights. The black is opaque, except along the extreme tip. 

 where there is a metallic gloss. The feathers of the lower ba«k and rump are black, with 

 little or no coppery gloss. The feathers of the sides behind, and the coverts, upper and 

 under, are of a very dark purplish chestnut, with purplish metallic reflections near the end. 

 and a subterminal bar of black ; the tips are of the opaque purplish chestnut referred to. 

 The concealed portion of the coverts is dark chestnut, barred rather finely with black, the 

 black wider than the interspaces. The tail feathers are dark brownish chestnut, with nu- 

 merous bars of black, which, when most distinct, are about a quarter of an inch wide and 

 about double their interspaces; the extreme tip for about half an inch is plain chestnut, 

 lighter than the general color; and there is a broad subterminal bar of black about two 

 inches wide on the outer feathers, and narrowing to about three quarters of an inch to the 

 central ones. The innermost pair scarcely show this band, and the others are all much 

 broken and confused. In addition to the black bars on each feather, the chestnut inter- 

 spaces are sprinkled with black. The black bands are all most distinct on the inner webs; 

 the interspaces are considerably Ughter below than above. 



There are no whitish tips whatever to the tail or its coverts. The feathers on the middle 

 of the belly are downy, opaque, and tipped obscurely with rusty whitish. 



The wing-coverts are like the back ; the quills, however, are blackish brown, with numer- 

 ous transverse bars of white, half the width of the interspaces. The exposed surfaces of 

 the wing, however, and most of the inner secondaries, are tinged with brownish rusty, the 

 uppermost ones with a dull copper or greenish gloss. 



The female differs in smaller size, less brilliant colors, absence generally of bristles on 

 the breast and of spur, and a much smaller fleshy process above the base of the bill. 



Male. Length. 48.00 to 50.00; extent. 60.00; wing, 21.00; tail, 18.50. "Weight, 16 to 40 lbs. 



Female. Weight, about 12 lbs.; measurements smaller in proportion. 



Once abundant throughout the State, the Wild Turkey is now 

 exterminated in some sections and reduced in numbers elsewhere. 

 In some densely wooded districts of the extreme southern coun- 

 ties it is still common, but is becoming less so every year. 



