WILD TURKEY. 
101 
brane and nails being blackish; the nails are oblong, wide, obtuse 
at tip, rounded above, and perfectly plane beneath. 
The female, or hen Turkey, is considerably smaller in size, being 
three feet and a quarter long. The bill and feet resemble those of 
the male, but are proportionally smaller, the latter being destitute 
of even a rudiment of spur: the irides are like those of the male. 
The head and neck are not so naked as in that sex, but are covered 
by small, decomposed feathers, of a dirty grayish colour; those of 
the back of the neck are tipped with ferruginous, constituting a 
longitudinal vitta on that part; the caruncle on the frontlet is rudi- 
mental, not susceptible of being elongated; the pectoral appendage 
is entirely wanting in our specimen. The general plumage is 
dusky-gray, each feather having a metallic band, less brilliant than 
that of the male, then a blackish band, and a grayish terminal 
fringe; the black subterminal band is obsolete on the feathers of 
the neck, and of the whole inferior surface; those of the latter part, 
with the feathers of the lower portion of the back, of the rump, 
and the flanks, have their tips yellowish-ferruginous, becoming 
gradually brighter towards the tail. The vent and thighs are dirty 
yellowish-gray, without any reflections; the under tail coverts are 
tipped, and varied with rather deep ferruginous; the superior tail 
coverts are like those of the male, but duller, and tipped with a 
broad, whitish-ferruginous fringe. The wings are also duller, each 
covert being tipped with grayish; less white exists on the primaries, 
the bands being narrower, and the secondaries entirely destitute 
of them. The tail is similar in colour to that of the male. It is 
proper to remark, that the female which furnished the above 
description, and is figured in the plate, though certainly adult, had 
not attained to its full size and perfect beauty. It was procured 
in the month of March, on St. John’s river, Florida. 
The young of both sexes resemble each other so closely, before 
the naked membrane acquires its tinge of red, as to be scarcely 
distinguishable; the females, however, when a few days old, are 
VOL. I. -C C 
