THE TURKEY HISTORIC 101 



advance of civilization has tended to sharpen 

 them. 



From this point of view, then, I would say that 

 mentally the average wild turkey is stronger 

 than the average domesticated one, and I believe 

 it will be found that in all these long years the 

 above influences have affected the size of the 

 brain-mass of the latter species in the way above 

 indicated, and perhaps it may be possible some 

 day to appreciate this difference. Perhaps, too, 

 there may have been also a slight tendency on 

 the part of the brain of the wild turkey to in- 

 crease in size, owing to the demands made upon 

 its functions due to the influence of man 's nearer 

 approach, and the necessity of greater mental 

 activity in consequence. 



Recently I examined a mounted skeleton of 

 a female wild turkey in the collection of the 

 United States National Museum, and apart from 

 the skull it presented the following characters: 

 There were fifteen vertebrae, the last one having a 

 pair of free ribs, before we arrived at the fused 

 vertebrae of the dorsum. Of these latter there 

 were three coossified into one piece. 



