286 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
the true Meleagris gallopavo, thus becomes a subspecies 
of the Mexican turkey and is now known as Meleagris 
gallopavo silvestris. It and the closely similar Florida 
race (osceola) have the ends of the upper tail coverts 
and tail feathers dark chestnut. The common northern 
wild turkey has the primaries, or stiff quill feathers of 
the wing white barred with black, while the Florida 
wild turkey has the primaries black, with small white 
bars, which are broken and usually do not reach the 
shafts of the feathers. These differences are constant, 
otherwise they would not be regarded as subspecific 
characters. 
Down in parts of southern Texas and northeastern 
Mexico is found another subspecies (intermedia) 
known as the Rio Grande turkey, or Elliott’s turkey. 
It looks much like the common wild turkey, but the 
rump feathers have a coppery bronze bar across them 
close to the ends, and are tipped with dark yellowish. 
The tail coverts are chestnut, with narrow black cross 
bars, and are broadly tipped with buff. The tail 
is mottled pale chestnut and black, has a black bar across 
it close to the end, and is tipped with yellowish buff. 
The difference in appearance between Elliott’s turkey 
and the common turkey is not easily expressed in 
words, but any one who has an opportunity to compare 
two specimens of the same age and sex will readily see 
that they are not exactly alike. Moreover, the female 
of the Rio Grande turkey has grayish tips to the feath- 
ers on the upper part of the body, and thus differs 
strikingly from any other species of turkey. 
