MELEAGEIS. 285 



M. gallopavo, from which the original stock of our domestic bird was probably 

 derived, is found in Arizona and Texas, as well as in the Mexican Eepublic. In 

 Tamaulipas, and also in Southern Texas, some variation in the colour of the plumage 

 takes place, certain specimens have the upper and under tail-coverts and the tail-feathers 

 tipped with buff, instead of pure white, but in this respect there is much variation, 

 even in examples from the same locality. The Eastern form has been separated by 

 jSIr. Sennett under the name of M. gallopavo, var. intermedia, and Mr. Ogilvie Grant 

 has included it in the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum ' as M. ellioti ; but 

 the differences are so slight and apparently unstable that they do not appear to us to 

 be of sufficient importance to necessitate a specific distinction. 



Mr. Nelson, too, has described a subspecies from the mountains of Arizona, Western 

 New Mexico, and south to the Mexican border under the name of M. gallopavo 

 merriami ; but as this form has not yet been found south of the Mexican frontier we 

 need not discuss it here. 



Major Bendire ^^ says that in Arizona this Turkey is a resident of the higher 

 mountain-ranges, reaching an altitude of from 8000 to 10,000 feet, and retiring to the 

 more sheltered canons and timbered river-valleys at the approach of winter, where it 

 congregates in large flocks, feeding chiefly on a small bitter acorn that grows in the 

 canons and parks of Southern Arizona. The bird usually selects a sycamore tree in a 

 sheltered valley as its roosting-place, and sometimes as many as fifty or sixty may be 

 seen in compauy. The mating-season lasts from about the beginning of March till 

 the middle of April, when they commence nesting. Like other species of Meleagris, 

 this Turkey is polygamous and the female alone attends to the duties of incubation, 

 which lasts about four weeks ; the males are said fiequently to destroy both eggs and 

 young birds. The nest is a hollow in the ground coarsely lined with grass and leaves, 

 and is generally placed in the open country concealed by a small bush. Ten or 

 eleven creamy-white eggs, spotted all over with reddish-brown, are laid. 



2. Meleagris ocellata. 



Meleagris ocellata, Cuv. Mem. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. vi. p. 1, t. 1 ^ (1830) ; Cabot, Proc. Bost. Soc. 

 N. H. i. p. 73 ' ; Journ. Bost. Soc. N. H. iv. p. 246 (part.) ' ; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 225'; 

 Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 62' ; Taylor, Ihis, 1860, p. 311"; Scl. P. Z. S. 1861, p. 402, 

 t. 40'; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 125 '; Elliot, Monogr. Phas. i. t. 33'; Boucard, P. Z. S. 1883, 

 p. 461 " ; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 391 " ; Handb. Game-Birds, ii. p. 110, t. 31 ". 



Meleagris aureus, Vieill. Tabi. Encycl. Meth. i. p. 361 ". 



Agriocharis ocellata, Chapm. Bull. Amer. j\Ius. viii. p. 298"; Sharpe, Hand-list Birds, i. 



p. 43 ". 



Vivide metallica, plumis singulis aeneo-viridibus, apicem versus purpurasoenti-nigris, subterminaliter nigris efc 

 viridescenti-cupreis fimbriatis ; supracaudalibus viridescenti-cyaneis, purpurascente micante terminatis ; 

 rectricum ocellis quoque viridi-cyanescentibus, plus minusve purpurascentibus ; rectricibus rubescenti- 

 cupreis, viridescente micante late marginatis ; praepectore et hypochondriis interscapulio concoloribus ; 



