Evidence of the Former Existence of the Wild Turkey at 
Mount Desert Island, Maine.— Last summer (August 14. 1880), while 
searching in an old Indian shell-heap on the east side of Mount Desert 
Island, Maine, I found a portion of the tarsus of a Wild Turkey ( Melea - 
gris gallopavo). This is interesting as showing the former range of this 
bird, which is now extinct in New England. 
In Jeffries Wyman’s account of the Indian shell-heaps of New England, 
he does not mention finding the bones of the Wild Turkey farther north 
than Eagle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts. — C. W. Townsend. Boston , 
Mass - Ball. N, O. O. 6, Jan, , 1881, P, 6 O . 
v-*- 
Nomenclature of North American 
Birds, Elliott Couee, 
379 a. Meleagris gallopavo americana ( Bartr .) Coues. This would 
appear to be the correct name for our Wild Turkey, and I have it so in 
the check list. It is true that Bartram called it occidental is on an earlier 
pao-eof the work in which he named it americana; but such name is 
geographically false as applied to the Eastern Turkey in distinction from 
the°Western one. I bring up this case, however, chiefly to call attention 
to a hitherto neglected synonym of the bird. For Barton, in I8O0, clearly 
distinguished two species of Turkey, calling the Eastern Wild Turkey 
Meleagrfpalawa (Med. and Phys. Journ., 11 , 180 t 8 p. 163 ). 
Bull N.O.O. 5, April, 1880, P.1CC 
The Wild Turkey in Massachusetts. — When a pupil of the Public Latin 
School in Boston in 1837-38, I spent a portion of my summer vacations in 
Northampton. I distinctly remember conversing with some of the town’s 
people at those times in regard to the existence of a flock of Wild Turkeys 
' {Meleagris gallopavo) which had frequently been seen in the neighbor- 
hood of Mount Holyoke. I was much interested in the circumstance, 
which even then was deemed very unusual. 
These birds had the range of a large tract of wild mountainous country, 
in some parts almost inaccessible and impassable, lying at the base of and 
I comprising Mount Holyoke, and to the southwest also including Mount 
Tom and its surroundings. An incident occurring at this period 
serves to show the character of this district. A stranger ascended Mount 
Holyoke to enjoy the view from its summit. In descending he missed 
the path, and becoming bewildered, wandered away into the forests at the 
base. Here he passed two or three days before he succeeded in extricat- 
ing himself in a famished condition, and having upon his person only a 
small portion of the holiday attire in which he ascended the mountain. 
I am unable to state the exact period at which this flock became exter- 
minated, but should say that it must have been in 1840, or thereabouts. 
My friend, Mr. J. A. Allen, has kindly given me the following references 
on this subject, which I have looked up. ' \3 
Hitchcock in his ‘Geological Report of Massachusetts,’ 18^3, says(^ 
“Wild Turkeys are frequently met with on Mount Holyoke.” In the 
same volume, Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, in his list of the birds, says. “The 
Wild Turkeys have now become scarce and nearly extinct.” 
In a communication to the ‘Bulletin’ of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 
(Vol. I, 1876), Mr. J. A. Allen says, “According to John Josselyn the Wild 
Turkeys began early to decline.” This author, wilting in 1672 (‘New 
England’s Rarities’) says, “I have also seen three score broods of young 
Turkies on the side of a marsh sunning of themselves in a morning 
betimes, but this was thirty years since, the English and the Indians have 
now destroyed the breed so that it is very rare to meet with a wild Turkey 
in the Woods, but some of the English bring up great stores of the wild 
kind which remain about their Houses as tame as ours in New England.” 
Thompson, in his ‘History of Vermont,’ says, under date of 1842, “A 
few of the Wild Turkeys continue still to visit and breed upon the moun- 
j tains in the southern part of the state.” Of, *j , \j[ ([K. %Y.YJKl 
In a communicatiory-to the ‘Proceedings’ of the Essex Institute, undAj? 
date of May 2, 1864^1-. Allen says, “The Wild Turkey is now probably? 
extinct in this State. Within a few years it has been said to occur wild on^ 
Mts. Tom and Holyoke, but I can find no authentic instances of its 
recent capture in this State. It is well known that the domestic turkey 
will sometimes take to the woods, assuming the habits of the wild bird. 
Hence these reports may well be received with considerable caution.” 
In Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway’s ‘Land Birds,’ Vol. Ill, 1874, we find 
the following : “It has probably become an extinct species in New Eng- 
land, though within a few years, individuals have been shot in Montague, 
Mass.., and in other towns in Franklin County.” 
We must consider, then, that the fate of this noble bird, not only in 
Massachusetts but in New England, has been decided for many years, and 
the same fate awaits it in all the other States, where it still lingers, unless 
means are early adopted to prevent its complete annihilation. — D. D. 
Slade, Museum of Comparative Zoology , Cambridge , Mass. 
Decrease of Birds in Mass. J. A. Allen 
The Wild Turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo var. occidentals ), though 
once a common inhabitant of New England from the more southerly 
parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, southward, long 
since ceased to exist here in a wild state. Its former abundance in 
Massachusetts is well attested. I will give here, however, only* a 
single reference indicative of the former great number of these 
birds in the eastern part of the State. Thomas Morton, who re- 
sided here “many years” prior to 1637, says : “Turkies there are, 
which divers times in great flocks have sallied by our doores ; and 
then a gunne (being commonly in a redinesse,) salutes them with 
such a courtesie, as makes them take a tume in the Cooke roome. 
They daunce by the doore so well .... I had a Salvage who hath 
taken out his boy in a morning, and they have brought home their 
loades about noone. I have asked them what number they found 
in the woods, who have answered Neent Metawna, which is a tho- 
sand that day ; the plenty of them is such in those parts. They 
are easily killed at rooste, because the one being killed, the other 
sit fast neverthelesse, and this is no bad commodity.” * According 
to John Josselyn, they began early to decline. This author, writ- 
ing in 1672, says : “I have also seen three score broods of young 
Turkies on the side of a Marsh, sunning of themselves in a morning 
betimes, but this was thirty years since, the English and the In- 
dians having now destroyed the breed, so that ’t is very rare to 
meet with a wild Turkie in the Woods ; but some of the English 
bring up great store of the wild kind, which remain about their 
Houses as tame as ours in England.” t This would seem to indi- 
cate that the Wild Turkey was often domesticated in Massachusetts, 
and renders it probable that our domestic stock was by no means 
wholly derived,* as is commonly supposed, from Mexico. Besides 
Josselyn’s statement of their domestication in New England, I have 
met with other statements to the same effect, and can cite numer- 
ous instances of its domestication in Pennsylvania, Now Jersey, and 
Virginia early in the seventeenth century. J 
* New English Canaan, pp. 69 , 70 . 
t New Englands Rarities, p. 9 . 
£ On the domesticability of the Wild Turkey of the United States, see Bull. 
Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. II, pp, 343 - 352 . 
Buii. N.O.C. 1, Sept, 1870, p, jTjZ 
Auk, Y. April 1888. p. 
