﻿52 
  GKOUSE 
  AND 
  WILD 
  TURKEYS 
  OF 
  UNITED 
  STATES. 
  

  

  white-oak 
  acorns, 
  chinquapins, 
  chestnuts, 
  pecan 
  nuts, 
  black 
  persim- 
  

   mons, 
  fruit 
  of 
  prickly 
  pear, 
  leguminous 
  seeds, 
  all 
  cultivated 
  grains, 
  

   and 
  tender 
  tops 
  of 
  plants. 
  a 
  Wild 
  turkeys 
  feed 
  also 
  on 
  mountain 
  rice 
  

   (Oryzopsis 
  pringlei) 
  , 
  mesquite 
  beans, 
  sedge, 
  poa 
  grassland 
  composite 
  

   flowers. 
  

  

  Florence 
  Merriam 
  Bailey, 
  in 
  writing 
  of 
  the 
  wild 
  turkey 
  in 
  New 
  

   Mexico, 
  says 
  : 
  6 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Vilas, 
  a 
  cattleman 
  of 
  the 
  country, 
  told 
  us 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  fall 
  they 
  go 
  down 
  

   to 
  the 
  nut 
  pine 
  and 
  juniper 
  mesas 
  in 
  the 
  Glorieta 
  region 
  and, 
  gathering 
  at 
  the 
  

   few 
  springs 
  that 
  furnish 
  drinking 
  places, 
  are 
  shot 
  by 
  wagon 
  loads 
  by 
  the 
  Mexi- 
  

   cans. 
  The 
  only 
  specimen 
  we 
  obtained 
  was 
  taken 
  July 
  27, 
  at 
  over 
  11,000 
  feet. 
  

   Its 
  crop 
  and 
  gizzard 
  held 
  mainly 
  grasshoppers 
  and 
  crickets, 
  but 
  also 
  grass 
  seed, 
  

   mariposa 
  lily 
  buds, 
  and 
  strawberries, 
  while 
  its 
  gizzard 
  contained 
  in 
  addition 
  

   a 
  few 
  beetles. 
  

  

  The 
  wild 
  turkey 
  consumes 
  both 
  insect 
  pests 
  and 
  seeds 
  of 
  weeds, 
  but 
  

   now 
  is 
  nowhere 
  abundant 
  enough 
  to 
  have 
  much 
  effect 
  on 
  agriculture. 
  

   The 
  domestic 
  turkey's 
  habit 
  of 
  hunting 
  grasshoppers 
  and 
  of 
  ' 
  worm- 
  

   ing 
  ' 
  tobacco 
  shows 
  what 
  might 
  be 
  expected 
  from 
  the 
  wild 
  species 
  

   were 
  it 
  sufficiently 
  numerous. 
  

  

  a 
  Life 
  Hist. 
  N. 
  A. 
  Birds, 
  [I], 
  p. 
  114, 
  1892. 
  

   6 
  Auk, 
  vol. 
  21, 
  p. 
  352, 
  1904. 
  

  

  