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WILD TURKEY. 



Meleagris Gallopavo, Linn. 



PLATE I. Vol. I. p. 1. Male. 

 PLATE VI. VoT,. I. p. 33. Female and Young. 



I HAVE ascertained that some of these valuable birds are still found 

 in the States of New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. In 

 the winter of 1832-3, I purchased a few fine males in the city of Bos- 

 ton. This species is abundant in the wooded portions of Texas, 

 but none have been observed either on the Rocky Mountains, or to the 

 westward of them. They are, however, becoming less numerous in 

 every portion of the United States, even in those parts where they 

 were very abundant thirty years ago. My friend Dr Bachman assures 

 me, that in a state of domestication, the Wild Turkeys, though kept 

 separate from tame individuals, lose the brilliancy of their plumage in 

 the third generation, becoming plain brown, and having here and there 

 white feathers intermixed. The eggs measure 2 inches 7 eighths in 

 length, by 2 inches in breadth, and are rather pointed ; their ground- 

 colour is a uniform pale yellowish tint, and marked all over with 

 pale rusty brovra spots and dots. I found this species pretty abundant 

 on James River in Virginia, as well as in the market of Washington 

 city, where, in the winter of 1836-7, they sold at the low price of se- 

 venty-five cents the piece. 



PINNATED GROUS. 



Tetrao Cupido, Linn. 



PLATE CLXXXVL Vol. II. p. 490. 



This species is becoming rarer every season in all those portions 

 of our Middle and Atlantic Districts, where twenty years ago it was 

 pretty abundant. In New Jersey it is nearly extirpated. It is abim- 

 dant on all the prairies of the Texas, and ranges along the shores of the 



