THE TURKEY HISTORIC 99 



the occipital area is, as a rule, roughly semi- 

 circular in a domesticated turkey, whereas in 

 M. g. merriami it is nearly always of a cordate 

 outline, with the apex upward. In the case of 

 the tame turkeys I have found it to average one 

 exception to this in every twelve birds; in the 

 exception, the bounding line of the area made a 

 cordate figure as in wild turkeys. 



5. Among the domesticated turkeys, the in- 

 terorbital septum almost invariably is pierced 

 by a large irregular vacuity; as a rule this osseous 

 plate is entire in wild ones. 



6. The descending process of a lacrymal 

 bone is more apt to be longer in a wild turkey 

 than in a tame one; and for the average the 

 greater length is always in favor of the former 

 species. 



7. In M. g. merriami the arch of the superior 

 margin of the orbit is more decided than it is in 

 the tame turkey, where the arc formed by this 

 line is shallowed, and not so elevated. 



8. We find, as a rule, that the pterygoid bones 

 are rather longer and more slender in wild tur- 

 keys than they are among the tame ones. 



