56 THE WILD TURKEY. 



Male, 49, 68. Female, 37, 54. 



Breeds from Texas to Massachusetts and Vermont. In the interior to the 

 Missouri, and thence northward to Michigan. Common. Resident, though 

 removing to considerable distances in autumn, in quest of food. 



Adult Male. 



Bill shortish, robust, slightly arched, rather obtuse, the base covered by a 

 bare membrane; upper mandible with the dorsal outline arched, the sides 

 convex, the edges overlapping, the tip a little declinate; under mandible 

 somewhat bulging towards the tip, the sides convex. Nostrils situated in 

 the basal membrane, oblique, linear, covered above by a cartilage. Head 

 small, flattened above, with a conical pendulous, erectile caruncle on the 

 forehead. Neck slender. Body robust. Feet longish and strong; tarsus 

 covered anteriorly with numerous transverse scutella, scaly on the sides, 

 scutellate behind; toes scutellate above, scabrous, papillar and fiat beneath; 

 hind toe elevated, half the length of the lateral toes, which are nearly equal, 

 and much shorter than the middle toe; claws slightly arched, strong, convex 

 above, obtuse, flat beneath. A conical, rather obtuse spur on the tarsus, 

 about two-thirds down. 



Conical papilla of the forehead rugose, sparsely covered with bristles. 

 Head bare, and corrugated, the skin irregularly raised, and covered with a 

 few scattered bristles. External ear margined with short and slender thin 

 feathers. Neck also bare, corrugated, beset anteriorly and below with a 

 series of oblong, irregular, cavernous caruncles, interspersed with small 

 bristly feathers. Plumage in general compact, glossy, with metallic reflec- 

 tions. Feathers double, as in other gallinaceous birds, generally oblong and 

 truncated. A pendulous tuft of long bristles from the upper part of the 

 breast. Wings shortish, convex, rounded, the fourth and fifth quills longest. 

 Tail rather long, ample, rounded, consisting of eighteen broad rounded 

 feathers; capable of being erected and expanded in a permanent manner, 

 when the bird is excited, and reaching nearly to the ground, when the bird 

 stands erect. 



Bill yellowish-brown. Frontal caruncle blue and red. Rugose and carun- 

 culated skin of the head and neck of various tints of blue and purple, the 

 pendulous anterior caruncles of the latter, or the ivattles, bright red, 

 changing to blue. Iris hazel. Legs and toes bright purplish-red; claws 

 brown. Upper part of the back and wings brownish-yellow, with metallic 

 lustre, changing to deep purple, the truncated tips of the feathers broadly 

 margined with velvet-black. On the middle and lower back, the black 

 terminal bands of the feathers almost conceal the bronze colour. The large 

 quill-coverts are of the same colour as the back, but more bronzed, with 

 purple reflections. Quills brownish-black, the primaries banded with 



