The Birds of El Paso County, Colorado 495 



Meleagris gallopavo merriami. Merriam's Turkey. Wild 

 Turkey. 



Formerly common in the foothills, now exterminated. 



When Aiken located on his ranch in the Turkey Creek val- 

 ley in November, 1871, he was told that Jeff Steel, the pre- 

 vious owner of the ranch, had killed one or more Wild Turkeys 

 there the year previous. Years before that time the creek had 

 received its name from the abundance of Turkeys there. In 

 December, 1871, Aiken found evidence of the roosting place of 

 a Turkey on the edge of Barnes's Canon two miles east of 

 the ranch. In the spring of 1873 his mother, Mrs. J. E. 

 Aiken, while riding horseback a short distance north of the 

 ranch saw a Wild Turkey run across the road a few rods aheaa 

 of her. This is believed to have been the last survivor of the 

 species in the County. 



Of the host of Wild Turkeys which once inhabited the 

 Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado none now 

 remain except a few along the southern border of the State. 

 Only one specimen from the devastated area remains, a 

 niounted bird in the Colorado Museum of Natural History, 

 Denver, which was killed in South Park, in January, 1878. 

 This specimen and existing birds of the southern border have 

 been identified as Merriam'§ Turkey, and beyond a reasonable 

 doubt all the Turkeys indigenous to the mountains intervening 

 between these points were of the same form. 



Phasianus torquatus. Ring-necked Pheasant. MongoHan 

 Pheasant. 



An introduced species. General Palmer brought a num- 

 ber to Glen Eyrie, which after being kept confined for some 

 time were liberated. A good number of young broods were 

 seen about the first season, only a few the second, and event- 

 ually ihey about all disappeared. There are two or more in 

 Monument Valley Park which have been there three or four 

 years. In the fall of 1912 one was brought to A.iken which was 

 killed near Palmer Lake. It seems quite certain that this in- 



