184 
MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO. 
are plain blackish * banded with white, which is inter- 
rupted by the shaft, and sprinkled with blackish ; the 
secondaries have the white portion so large, that they 
may as well be described as white, banded with blackish, 
and are, moreover, tinged with ferruginous yellow ; 
this colour gradually encroaches on the white, and 
then on the blackish, in proportion as the feathers 
approach the body, so that the tertials are almost 
entirely of that colour, being only sprinkled with 
blackish, and having metallic reflections on the inner 
web; the anterior under wing-coverts are brownish 
black, the posterior ones being gray ; the tail measures 
more than a foot and a quarter, is rounded, and 
composed of eighteen wide feathers ; it is capable of 
being expanded and elevated, together with the supe- 
rior tail-coverts, so as to resemble a fan, when the 
bird parades, struts, or wheels. The tail is ferruginous, 
mottled with black, and crossed by numerous narrow 
undulated lines, of the same colour, which become 
confused on the middle feathers; near the tip is a 
broad black band, then the feathers are again mottled 
for a short distance, and are widely tipped with ferru- 
ginous yellow. 
The feet are robust and somewhat elongated ; the 
tarsus measures more than six inches in length, being 
covered before by large alternate pentagonal plates, and 
furnished, on the inner posterior side, with a rather 
obtuse, robust, compressed spur, nearly one inch long. 
The toes are three before, connected at base by a 
membrane, and one behind, touching the ground only 
at tip, being articulated higher on the tarsus than the 
others, and one-half shorter than the lateral toes, which 
are equal; the middle toe is more than four inches 
long, and the posterior but little more than one inch ; 
they are all covered by entire plates; the sole is granu- 
lated : the colour of the feet is red, the margins of 
the plates and scales, the membrane and nails, being 
blackish; the nails are oblong, wide, obtuse at tip, 
rounded above, and perfectly plain beneath. 
The female, or hen turkey, is considerably smaller in 
