BIRDS OP NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 451 



74 (RiodelaCruz.Tamaulipas).— Smith, Auk, xxxiii, 1916, 188 (Kerr County, 

 , Tex.)-; Condor, xx, 1918, 2,12 in text (near Matador, Motley County, Tex.).— 

 Simmons, Birds Austin Region, 1925, 84 (Austin region, Tex.; habits; nest 

 and eggs; descrip. ; etc.).— Griscom. and Crqsby, Auk, xlii, 192S, 533 (Browns- 

 ville, Tex.):— Bent, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 162, 1932, 342 (life hist.; etc.).— 

 PeteKs, Check-list Birds World, ii, 1934, 140.— Ghigi, Gallini di Faraone e 

 Tacchini, 1936, 327 (genl.).— Sutton, Ann. Carnegie Mus., xxvii, 1938, 178 

 (Tarrant County Tex.; probably breeds).— Hellmayr and Conover, Cat. Birds 

 Amer., i. No. 1. 1942, 293^ 



MVeleagris] g[allop(wo] intermedia Bailey, Handb. Birds Western United States, 

 ' 1902, 136 (descr.;distr.).— Moose, Auk, Iv, 1938, 113 in text, 114 (spec; crit.). 

 — MosBY and Handley, Wild Turkey in Virginia; 1943, 4 (distr.). 



Meleagris gallapavo intermedia Lacey, Auk, xxviii, 1911, 206 (Kerrville, Tex.; 

 formerly common). 



Meleagris intermedia Elliot, Auk, xvi, 1899, 232 (crit. on p. 231). 



M[eleagris] intermedia Reichenow, Die Vogel, i, 1913, 305. 



[Meleagris] intermedia^ Sharpe, Hand-list, i, 1899, 43. 



Meleagris gallophvd ellioti SenNett, Auk, ix, 1892, 167, pi. 3 (Lomita Ranch, 

 Hidalgo County, s. Tex.; coll. G. B. Sennett).— American Ornithologists' 

 Union, Auk, x, 1893, 60; Check-list, ed. 2, 1895, No. 310c.— Ridgway, Man. 

 North Amer. Birds, ed. 2, 1896, 591. 



{Meleagris gallopavo.] Subsp. a Meleagris ellioti Ogilvie- Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., xxii, 1893, 388 (Tamaulipas; Hidalgo, Tex.). 



MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO MERRIAMI Nelson 



Merriam's Turkey 



• Adult male. — Similar tq that of M. g. silvestris but with tips of the 

 rump feathers, upper tail coverts, and rectrices very much lighter and 

 whiter (even paler than in M. g. intermedia) — pale pinkish buff, the 

 feathers of the upper ba.ck, breast and upper abdomen very slightly less 

 bronzy, the lower back blackish with bluish gloss as in M. g. intermedia; 

 the upper tail coverts bright auburn proximal to the broad pale tips which 

 in turn are basally narrowly pale ochraceous-tawny, the black subterminal 

 band of the rectrices averaging narrower than in silvestris and in the 

 lateral ones, with well-developed, metallic, greenish-purplish, transverse 

 bars included, the secondaries more mottled with pale tawny to cinnamon, 

 especially on the inner webs and with more white on both webs ; feathers 

 of flanks and the under tail coverts broadly tipped with pinkish buff to 

 light pinkish cinnamon, averaging paler on the flanks and darker on the 

 under tail coverts, these broad tips, in turn, basally hazel, these basal 

 hazel areas broader on the under tail coverts than on the flanks; tarsal 

 spur somewhat shorter and more stubby than in silvestris. 



AdMlt female. — Similar to that of M. g. intermedia but larger (as large 

 as M. g. silvestris) and with the upper tail coverts and rectrices with still 

 paler tips — pale pinkish buff to tilleul buff; the innermost secondaries 

 more heavily mottled with dusky. 



Immature. — Similar to the adult of corresponding sex but generally 

 duller below and retaining the two outermost juvenal primaries. 



