36 THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS HUNTING 



Finally, it is questionable whether the genus 

 Meleagris existed at all, as such, at the time the 

 "Miocene clay deposits of northern Colorado" 

 were deposited. 



That this fragment may have belonged to the 

 skeleton of some big gallinaceous fowl the size 

 of an adult existing Meleagris — and long ago 

 extinct — I in no way question ; but that it was 

 a true turkey, I very much doubt. 



Still more uncertain is the fragment repre- 

 senting Meleagris celer of Marsh. (Plate 1, Figs. 

 3 -5.) The tibia mentioned I have not seen, 

 and of them Professor Marsh states that they 

 only "probably belonged to the same indi- 

 vidual' ' (see anted). As to this proximal moiety 

 of the tarso-metatarsus, it is essentially dif- 

 ferent from the corresponding part of that bone 

 in Meleagris g. silvestris. In it the hypotarsus 

 is twice grooved, longitudinally; whereas in M. 

 g. silvestris there is but a single median groove. 

 In the latter bird there is a conspicuous osseous 

 ridge extending far down the shaft of the bone, 

 it being continued from the internal, thickened 

 border of the hypotarsus. This ridge is only 



