136 
PHEASANTS AND TURKEYS 
white ; face, legs, and feet dull red. Male: length 40, wing 10.50, tail 
24. Female: length 20.50, wing 9.10, tail 9.80. 
Distribution. — Southern China. Introduced into western Oregon and 
Protection Island, Washington. 
GENUS MELEAGRIS. 
General Characters. — Head and upper neck naked ; the skin wrinkled 
or warted, the forehead with extensile appendage, smaller in females ; 
tail rounded, tarsus naked, spurred in male ; sexes similar, hut females 
duller. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Tail coverts tipped with huffy whitish .... merriami, p. 136. 
l'.Tail coverts tipped with brown. 
2. Tail coverts tipped with dark chestnut. fera, p. 136. 
2'. Tail coverts tipped with cinnamon or cinnamon buff. 
intermedia, p. 136. 
310. Meleagris gallopavo merriami Nelson. Merriam Tur¬ 
key. 
Adult male. — Head and neck bare, dull bluish, strip of skin hanging 
from above bill; chest with bristly tuft of beard; feathers of under parts 
metallic bronzy green and reddish, tipped with velvet black ; feathers of 
lower back and rump metallic, tipped with black; tail , tail coverts , and 
feathers of lower rump tipped with huffy whitish. Adult female: similar, but 
smaller, and colors duller. Male: length 48-50, wing 21, tail 18.50. 
Distribution. — Mountains of southern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, 
western Texas, and northern Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. 
Nest. — A hollow lined with leaves, weeds, and grass, sometimes under 
shelter of a yucca, grass, or bushes. Eggs: 8 to 14, white, dotted over 
entire surface with reddish brown. 
Food. — Insects, seeds, berries, plant tops, and cactus fruit. 
In the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona one may occasion¬ 
ally find wild turkeys. In Arizona they have been seen by shep¬ 
herds in the notches between the highest peaks of San Francisco 
Mountain. 
310a. M. g. fera (Vieill.). Wild Turkey. 
Like M. g. merriami , but tail tipped with deep rusty, coverts and feathers 
of lower rump rich dark chestnut. 
Distribution. — Eastern United States from southwestern Pennsylvania 
to the Gulf coast, and west to southwestern Kansas along wooded river 
valleys. 
Nest. — On the ground, sometimes lined with leaves and pine needles. 
Eggs: 8 to 13, creamy to buffy, marked with brown. 
Food. — Grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects; acorns, nuts, seeds, 
grain, berries, and plant tops. 
310c. M. g. intermedia Sennett. Rio Grande Turkey. 
Similar to M. g. merriami , but lower back and rump jet black — feathers 
showing steel gray bars in certain lights — and tail and lower coverts 
tipped with cinnamon or cinnamon buff. 
Distribution. — Lowlands of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. 
