434 ■ BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and peppered pattern ; the lower throat and upper breast feathers brownish 

 black with white shafts ; abdomen dark bufify gray ; chin and throat almost 

 bare but rest of head still covered with tawny-brownish down. 



Juvenal (sexes alike).— Upperparts dull rufescent brownish, coarsely 

 vermiculated with blackish, each feather with a large subterminal V-shaped 

 blackish band, and tipped with pale ochraceous-buff ; remiges brown edged 

 with white for the whole length of the feathers on the outer web and 

 distally on the inner one, the outer web mottled with dull buffy ; underparts 

 grayish buffy somewhat mottled with dusky anteriorly ; top of head still 

 covered with tawny-brownish down; the bony helmet very small and 

 bltint but definitely present by this stage of development. 



Natal down (sexes alike). — Forehead, sides of head and of crown; 

 chin, throat, breast, abdomen, sides, and wings white with a very faint 

 buffy tinge; center of crown and occiput olive-brown; the nape, back, 

 and base of wings Sayal brown ; the flanks and all but the lower part of the 

 thighs dusky, buffy brown; bill and feet (in dried skins) light yellow. 



Adult male.— Wing 223.5-263.5 (239.5); tail 126.5-153.0 (136.8); 

 culmen from base 32.7-35.7 (34.2) ; tarsus 63.4-68.0 (65.0) ; middle toe 

 without claw 39.5^2.4 (40.6 mm.)." 



Adult female.—Wmg 226-248 (235) ; tail 127-134 (130.6) ; cuhnen 

 from base 31.2-34.4 (32.7) ; tarsus 57.2-68.4 (63.0) ; middle toe without 

 claw 36,7-40.6 (39.1 mm.). 12 



Range. — Native in the open grassy scrub country of western Africa 

 south of the Sahara and north of the forested areas from Senegal and 

 Liberia to Lake Chad and the northeastern part of French Equatorial 

 Africa ; also the Cape Verde Islands and the islands of Annobon and Sao 

 Thome in the Gulf of Guinea. Introduced into St. Helena and some of 

 the West Indies ; Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Barbuda, etc., where it has 

 become established as a wild bird in eastern Cuba and in Hispaniola. 



Type locality. — None stated. 



[Phasiantis] meleagris Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, i, 17S8, 1S8, part. 



[Numida] meleagris Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, i, 1766, 273, part. — Gmelin, Syst. 

 Nat., i, pt. ii, 1788, 744, part.— Latham, Index Orn., ii, 1790, 621, part.— Gray, 

 Hand-list, ii, 1870, 262, No. 9629, part.— Cosy, List Birds West Indies, 1885; 

 rev. ed., 1886, 24 (Antilles).— Sharpe, Hand-list, i, 1899, 41. 



Numida meleagris Temminck, Cat. Syst., 1807, ISO. — Sonnini and Vieillot, Nouv. 

 Diet. Hist. Nat., xxv, 1817, 125, pi. M, 31, fig. 2.— Lesson, Traite d'Orn., 

 1831, 497, pi. 81, fig. 2.— RiTTER, Naturh. Reis. Westind. Insel Hayti, 1836, 150, 

 156 (Haiti).— Jardine, Nat. Libr., Orn., iii, 1836, 229, pi. 29.— Gray, List 

 Birds Brit. Mus., pt, 3, Gallinae, 1844, 29 ; ed. 1867, 43.— Denny, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. London, 1847, 39 (Cuba and Jamaica; introduced). — Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 

 1847, 325.— Reichenbach, Syst. Av., iii, Gallinaceae, 1848, pi. 186, figs. 1586-95.— 

 Salle, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1857, 236 (Santo Domingo; habits).— -Hart- 



' Sis; specimens from Haiti and Barbuda. 



' Seven specimens from Haiti, Barbuda, and Jamaica. 



