256 WILD TURKEY. 
coverts are tipt and varied with rather deep ferruginous ; 
the superior tail-coverts are like those of the male, but duller, 
and tipt with a broad, whitish ferruginous fringe. The 
wings are also duller, each covert being tipt with greyish ; 
less white exists on the primaries, the bands being narrower, 
and the secondaries entirely destitute of them. ‘The tail is 
similar in colour to that of the male. It is proper to remark, 
that the female which furnished the above description, and is 
figured in the plate, thongh certainly adult, had not attained 
to its full size and perfect beauty. It was procured in the 
month of March, on St John’s river, Florida. 
The young of both sexes resemble each other so closely, 
before the naked membrane acquires its tinge of red, as to be 
scarcely distinguishable ; the females, however, when a few 
days old, are somewhat larger than the males, and have a 
weaker piping note ; the males then begin to stand higher on 
their legs, which are stronger than those of the females, and 
soon exhibit the rudiments of spurs. On the approach of the 
first winter, the young males show a rudiment of the beard or 
fascicle of hairs on the breast, consisting of a mere tubercle, 
and attempt to strut and gobble; the second year, the hairy 
tuft is about three inches long; in the third, the turkey attains 
its full stature, although it certainly increases in size and 
beauty for several years longer. In a fine male specimen, 
evidently young, which I obtained in the Philadelphia market, 
the plumage is equally brilliant with that of the finest adult, 
although the frontal caruncle is only one inch in length, the 
pectoral appendage two inches, and the spur merely rudi- 
mental. The concealed portion of the plumage on the anterior 
part of the back is sprinkled with pale ferruginous, which dis- 
appears as the bird advances in age. 
Females of four years old have their full size and colouring ; 
they then possess the pectoral fascicle four or five inches long 
(which, according to Mr Audubon, they exhibit a little in the 
second year, if not barren), but this fascicle is much thinner 
than that of the male. The barren hens do not obtain this 
