576 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLING — ALECTOBOPOBES. 



36. Family MELEAGRIDID JE : Turkeys. 



Head and upper neck naked, carunoulate ; in our species with a dewlap and erectile pro- 

 cess. Tarsi naked, seuteUate before and behind, spurred in the $. Tail broad, rounded, of 

 14-18 feathers. Plumage compact, lustrous ; in our species with a tuft of hair-like feathers 

 on the breast. One genus, two species. M. ocellatus is the very beautiful Turkey of Central 

 America. 

 203. MELEA'GRIS. (Grr. /leXeaypis, Lat. meleagris, a guinea-fowl ; transferred in ornithology to 

 this genus.) Turkeys. Characters of the family. 



553. M. gallipa/vo. (Lat. gallus, a cock, pavo, a pea-fowl. Fig. 395.) Turkey. Upper tail- 

 coverts chestnut, with paler or whitish tips; tail-feathers tipped with brownish-yellow or 

 whitish ; 3-4 feet long, etc. Wild in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and southward ; domesti- 



. cated elsewhere. The Mexican bird is the original of the domestic race ; it was upon this 

 form, imported into Europe, that Linnaeus imposed the name gallopavo (Fn. Suee. No. 198 ; 

 Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 268), which has generally been applied to the following feral variety : 



554. M. g. america'na. Eastern Wild Turkey. Upper tail-coverts without light tips, and ends 

 of tail-feathers scarcely paler. This is the ordinary wild turkey of Eastern North America; 

 N. to Canada, where it is said still *o occur ; extirpated in New England. NW. to the 

 Missouri, and SW. to Texas. The slight differences just noted seem to be remarkably con- 

 stant, and to be rarely if ever shown by the other form; although, as usual in domestic birds, 

 this last varies interminably in color. 



37. Family TETRAONID^ : G-rouse ; Partridge ; Quail. 



All the remaining gallinaceous birds are very closely related, probably constituting a 

 single family ; although the term Tetrcumidcs is usually restricted to the true Grouse as below 

 deiined {Tetraonmeey, the Partridges and Quails being erected into another family, Perdicidts, 

 with several subfamilies. But the Grouse do not appear to differ more from the Partridges 

 and Quails than these do from each other, and they are all variously interrelated ; so that no 

 violence will be offered in uniting them. One gi-oup of the Partridges (^Odontophorince) is 

 confined to America; all the rest to the Old World. The leading forms among the latter are 

 Perdix, the true partridge; Coturnix, the true QuaU; Francolwms, the Francolins; with 

 BoUulus and Caecabis. In all, perhaps a hundred species and a dozen genera. Without 

 attempting to frame a family diagnosis to cover all their modifications, I wiU precisely define 

 the American forms, as two subfamilies. 



Analysis of Subfamilies. 



TETRAONiNiE. Grouse. The shank (tarsus) more or less feathered. {Plenty more characters, \)ut this 



is perfectly distinctive. ) 

 0D0NT0PH0RiN.ffi:. American Partridges and Quails. The shank entirely bare and scaly. (Plenty 



more characters, etc. ) 



Obs. — The vernacular names "pheasant," "partridge," and "quail," as applied to our 

 game birds in different sections of the country, are the cause of endless confusion and misun- ^ 

 derstanding, which it seems hopeless to attempt to do away with. (1.) The word " pheasant" 

 (derived from the name of the river Phasis in Colchis) belongs to certain Old World Phasianidas 

 (see above ; and fig. 394) having no representatives in America. But early settlers of this country 

 applied it to the Euffed Grouse, BOnasa umbella— and "pheasant" is the Ruffed Grouse called 



I to this day by the common people of the Middle and Southern States. (2.) " Partridge " is an old 

 English word, specifically designating the English Perdix dnerea, then enlarged in meaning to 

 cover all the family Perdiddm (see beyond). In the Northern States, both the Spruce Grouse, 

 Canace canadensis, and the Ruffed Grouse, are commonly called "partridge." In the Middle 



