Catalogue of the Birds of Illinois. 
191 
Order GAL.LINAS. 
( Gallince alectoropodes.) 
Family MELEAGRLDJE. — Turkeys. 
Genus Meleagris, Linnaeus. 
*207. M. gallopavo americana (Bartr.) Coues. Wild Turkey.* Resident. 
Family TETRAORIDJE. — Grouse. 
Genus Bonasa, Stephens. 
*203. B. umbellus (Linn.) Steph. Ruffled Grouse. Resident.! 
Genus Cupidoiga, Reichenbach. 
*209. C. cupido (Linn.) Baird. Pinnated Grouse. Resident. The com- 
mon “ Prairie Chicken” or “ Prairie Hen.” 
Genus Pedicecetes, Baird. 
*210. P. phasianellus columbianus (Ord.) Coues. Sharp-tailed Grouse. 
Resident; northern prairies only. Said to be very scarce, and less numerous 
than formerly. Should be looked for carefully. Has the same habits as the 
common “Prairie Chicken,” and is quite similar in appearance, but may be 
distinguished by the form of the markings on the lower parts, which are 
Y-shaped, instead of running straight across, bar-like, by the absence of the 
elongated feathers on the sides of the neck, and other differences. 
Genus Lagopus, Vieillot. 
211. L. albus (Gmel.) Aud. Willow Ptarmigan. Formerly a rare winter 
visitant to extreme northern counties, according to Kennicott. Not recorded 
*That the common wild turkey of the Eastern United States is identical specifically 
with the domesticated bird, there is no reason to doubt, since the able and exhaustive 
discussion of the matter by Judge Caton, in his recent treatise in the American 
Naturalist for June, 1877, pp. 321-330. In view, however, of the perfect correspon- 
dence in plumage between the barnyard turkey, in its perfect normal plumage (we of 
course except the albinescent, erythrismal, or rufous and cream-colored, and melan- 
istic varieties,) with the wild bird of eastern Mexico and the southern Rocky Moun- 
tains of the United States, it seems most reasonable to regard the latter as the orig- 
inal of the domesticated race— a supposition greatly strengthened by historical cir- 
cumstances, which unavoidably lead to the conclusion that the bird was originally in- 
troduced into Europe by the Spaniards, after the conquest of Mexico, and afterward 
‘‘transplanted” to the United States by the early European settlers. As to the mat- 
ter of nomenclature, the whole question depends upon whether Linnteus based his 
diagnosis on the domesticated turkey or the wild North American bird. In the event 
of his M. gallopavo being meant for the former, the bird under consideration must be 
called americana , after Bartram; but if Linnaeus had the wild bird of North America 
in view, then the latter name becomes a synonym of gallopavo, while the Mexican, and 
with it the domesticated bird, where unmixed with wild stock, must be called mexi- 
cana, Gould. 
+As is apparently the case throughout the Southern States, wherever this species 
is found, all tne Ruffed Grouse of Southern Illinois have, so far as I have seen, rufous 
tails. In the northern portion of the state examples with gray tails are common, as is 
the case in New England and the Middle States generally, especially in the mountain 
districts. This prevalence of the rufous-tailed type seems strictly parallel to the case 
of the little “Screech Owl” (Scops asio), nearly all the individuals of which are of the 
bright rufous, or foxy-red phase in Southern Illinois, and is perhaps due to the same 
climatic causes. 
