BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
217 
Plate XXXVII. 
MELEAGEIS GALLOPAVO VAK. AMERICANA, (Baetk.) Coues. 
Wild Turkey 
A FEW TEAKS MOKE this haiidsome bird, which was at one time found 
in great abundance over nearly the whole of the Eastern Province of the 
United States, will he numbered with the things that were. Its final ex- 
tinction is only a question of time, and that not very remote. In the 
days of Audubon it was found along the entire range of the Alleghanies, 
where individuals do still exist, but they have been so molested by man, 
that they can only he approached with the greatest difficulty. At present 
they are quite abundant in the unsettled parts of our Southern and 
Western States, and in the regions drained by the MississqDpi and Missouri 
rivers. In New England it has probably become extinct. The same may 
doubtless be predicated of portions of our Middle Atlantic States. To be 
sure there are localities where individuals may occasionally be observed, 
but with the construction of railroads, and- the settlement of the country 
which invariably follows, we may expect the same fate to overtake them. 
Dr. Woodhouse met with the sj>ecies in abundance in all the timbered 
portions of Texas and the Indian Territory, and Mr. Dresser found it 
common enough in the districts of Mexico and Texas which he visited. 
This was especially the case on the rivers between San Antonio and the 
Rio Grande. 
Not migratory in the sense in which many of our smaller species are, 
yet these birds are addicted to roaming from one locality to another. 
These movements always occur in flocks of varying numbers, and have 
reference to food-matters. Where the supply of mast becomes exhausted, 
