34 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



Benedict, Curator of Exhibits of the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum, and Dr. Charles W. Richmond of 

 the Divison of Birds of that institution, for their 

 kindness in permitting me to examine and make 

 notes upon a mounted skeleton of a wild turkey 

 (M. g. silvestris) taken by Prof. S. F. Baird at 

 Carlisle, Penn., many years ago. Mr. Newton 

 P. Scudder, librarian of the National Museum, 

 likewise has my sincere thanks for his kindness 

 in placing before me the many volumes on the 

 history of the turkey I was obliged to consult 

 in connection with the preparation of this 

 chapter. 



From what has already been set forth above, it 

 is clear that Marsh's specimen (for he attached 

 but scant importance to the other fragments with 

 it), upon which he based " Meleagris antiquus" 

 was not taken in Oregon, but in Colorado. 1 



second of the two specimens received is in a small pasteboard box, 

 marked on top "Birds. Meleagris, sp. nov. N. J., Meleagrops celer 

 (type)." The specimen is the imperfect, proximal moiety of the left 

 tarso-metatarsus of a rather large bird. It is thoroughly fossilized, 

 earth-brown in color, with the free borders of the proximal end con- 

 siderably worn off. On its postero-external aspect, written in ink, are 

 the words "M. celer." 



1 In making this statement, I take the words of Dr. Geo. Bird Grin- 

 nell as written on the cork of the bottle containing the specimen to be 

 correct, and not the locality given elsewhere. (The A. O. U. Check-List 

 of North American Birds. Third Edition, 1910, p. 388.) Moreover, the 



