WILD TURKEY. 17 



part of the breast. Wings shortish, convex, rounded, the fourth and 

 fifth quills longest. Tail rather long, ample, rounded, consisting of 

 eighteen broad rounded feathers ; capable of being erected and expanded 

 in a permanent manner, when the bird is excited, and reaching nearly 

 to the ground, when the bird stands erect. 



Bill yellowish-brown. Frontal caruncle blue and red. Rugose and 

 carunculated skin of the head and neck of various tints of blue and 

 purple, the pendulous anterior caruncles of the latter, or the wattles, 

 bright red, changing to blue. Iris hazel. Legs and toes bright piu-plish- 

 red ; claws brown. Upper part of the back and wings brownish-yellow, 

 with metallic lustre, changing to deep purple, the truncated tips of the 

 feathers broadly margined \vith velvet-black. On the middle and lower 

 back, the black terminal bands of the feathers almost conceal the bronze 

 colour. The large quill-coverts are of the same colour as the back, but 

 more bronzed, with purple reflections. Quills bro^vnish-black, the pri- 

 maries banded with greyish-white, the secondaries with bro\vnish-white, 

 gradually becoming deeper towards the proximal feathers, which are 

 similar to the coverts. The lower part of the back and the tail-coverts 

 are deep chestnut, banded ^vith green and black. The tail-feathers are 

 of the same colour, vmdulatingly barred and minutely sprinkled with 

 black, and having a broad blackish bar towards the tip, which is pale 

 brown and minutely mottled. The under parts are duller. Breast of 

 the same colours as the back, the terminal black band not so broad ; 

 sides dark-coloured ; abdomen and thighs brownish-grey ; under tail- 

 coverts blackish, glossed with bronze, and at the tip bright reddish- 

 brown. 



Length 4 feet 1 inch, extent of wings 5 feet 8 inches ; beak 1^ inches 

 along the ridge, 2 along the gap ; tarsus 7j ; middle toe 5, hind toe 2 ; 

 pectoral appendage 1 foot. Such were the dimensions of the individual 

 represented in the plate, which, I need not say, was a fine specimen. 



