Ortalida maccalli.
Of Ortalida, as characterized above, Messrs. Sclater and Salvin enumerate eighteen species; like the rest of the family, all American. Of these only one has so far been detected within our limits, although it is by no means improbable that the O. poliocephala, Wagler (Sclater and Salvin, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1870, 537), may yet be detected in New Mexico or Arizona.[112]
Ortalida vetula, var. maccalli, Baird.
THE TEXAS CHACALACCA.
Ortalida vetula, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, 1851, 116. (Not Penelope vetula, Wagler, Isis, 1830, 1112, and 1831, 517.)—Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, 538. (Considers it the same as P. vetula, Wagler). Ortalida poliocephala, Cassin, Illust. I, IX, 1855, 267, pl. xliv. (Not Penelope poliocephala, Wagler, Isis, 1830, 1112.) Ortalida maccalli, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 611.—Ib. M. Bound. II, Birds, 22.—Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 24 (S. E. Texas, breeding).—Lawr. Ann. N. Y. IX, 209 (Yucatan).—Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, 538 (Honduras, Vera Cruz, Guatemala).—Reichenb. Handb. der sp. Orn. Lief, VIII, 145. (Describes more adult specimens.)
Sp. Char. Body above dark greenish-olive; beneath brownish-yellow, tinged with olive. Head and upper part of neck plumbeous. Tail-feathers lustrous green, all tipped with white, except the middle one. Feathers along the middle of the throat black; outer edge of primaries tinged with gray. Eyes brown. Bill and feet lead-colored. Length, 23.50; wing, 8.50; tail, 11.00.
Hab. Valley of the Rio Grande, and southward to Guatemala.
This form is distinguishable from O. vetula, as restricted, of which it is the northern representative, by the paler and less fulvous colors, and lighter—often nearly white—tips to the tail-feathers, besides other minor differences in coloration. The two cannot be separated specifically, however, since they undoubtedly grade into each other.
Habits. This very remarkable bird, belonging as it does to a form peculiar to this continent, is the only species found within the limits of the United States, and only within a quite restricted area in the valley of the Rio Grande. Numerous species of this family are found in the warmer countries of America, especially Mexico and Central America, all or nearly all of which appear to be capable of domestication, and some of which, including the present species, have, in repeated instances, been quite as completely domesticated as our common Turkey.
Ortalida maccalli.