THE WILD TURKEY. 57 



greyish-white, the secondaries with brownish-white, gradually becoming 

 deeper towards the proximal feathers, which are similar to the coverts. 

 The lower part of the back and the tail-coverts are deep chestnut, banded 

 with green and black. The tail-feathers are of the same colour, undulatingly 

 barred and minutely sprinkled with black, and having a broad blackish bar 

 towards the tip, which is pale brown and minutely mottled. The under 

 parts are duller. Breast of the same colours as the back, the terminal black 

 band not so broad; sides dark coloured; abdomen and thighs brownish-grey; 

 under tail-coverts blackish, glossed with bronze, and at the tip bright 

 reddish-brown. 



Length 4 feet 1 inch, extent of wings 5 feet 8 inches; beak *1 J inches 

 along the ridge, 2 along the gap; tarsus 7i; middle toe 5, hind toe 2; pectoral 

 appendage 1 foot. Such were the dimensions of the individual represented 

 in the plate, which, I need not say, was a fine specimen. 



The female is considerably inferior in size, with the wattles much smaller, 

 the tuft on the breast comparatively small, and only in old birds; the colour 

 of the plumage duller; there being but little of the refulgent hues of the 

 male; the lower parts brownish-black. The young, before being fledged, 

 are pale brownish-yellow above, pale yellowish-grey beneath, the top of the 

 head brighter, marked in the middle with a longitudinal pale brown band; 

 the back and wings spotted with brownish-black, excepting the smaller wing- 

 coverts, which are uniformly dull brown, 



