A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

Meleagris gallopavo.

Gen. Char. Legs with transverse scutellæ before and behind; reticulated laterally. Tarsi with spurs. Tail rounded, rather long, usually of eighteen feathers. Forehead with a depending fleshy cone. Head and the upper half of the neck without feathers. Breast of male in most species with a long tuft of bristles.

Species and Varieties.

M. gallopavo. Head livid blue, legs red, general color copper-bronze, with copper and green reflections, each feather with a velvet-black margin; all the quills brown, closely barred with white. Tail-feathers chestnut, narrowly barred with black; the tip with a very broad, subterminal black bar.

Tail-coverts dark purplish-chestnut throughout, with the tips not lighter. Tip of tail-feathers scarcely paler chestnut than the ground-color. Hab. Eastern Province of United States … var. gallopavo.

Tail-coverts chestnut, the tips much paler, sometimes almost white. Tip of tail-feathers light brownish-yellow or white; sometimes with the coverts broadly whitish. Hab. Southern portion of Western Province of United States, from Texas to Arizona. Table-lands of Mexico, south to Orizaba, Mirador, etc. … var. mexicanus.

The M. ocellatus[¹¹³] of Honduras and Yucatan is a very distinct species, and one which vies with the Phasianidæ of Asia in the brilliancy of its coloring. It is very rare in collections, and has a very restricted distribution.

Meleagris gallopavo, var. gallopavo, Linn.
WILD TURKEY.

Meleagris gallopavo, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 156.—Gmelin, I, 1788, 732.—Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 618.—Stephens, in Shaw’s Zoöl. XI, i, 1819, 156 (domestic bird).—Bonap. Am. Orn. I, 1825, 79, pl. ix.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 1 and 33; V, 1839, 559, pl. i.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 42, pl. cclxxxvii, cclxxxviii.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 630.—Reichenbach, Systema Av. 1851, pl. xxvi.—Ib. Icones Av. tab. 289.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 615.—Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 25 (Southeastern Texas, breeds).—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 426. Meleagris americana, Bartram, Travels, 1791, 290. Meleagris sylvestris, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. IX, 447. Gallopavo sylvestris, Leconte, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. 1857, 179. Meleagris fera, Vieillot, Galerie Ois. II, 1824, 10, pl. x.—Gray. Cat. Gall. V, 42, 1867.—Wild Turkey, Clayton, Philos. Trans. XVII, 1693, 992.—Pennant, Philos. Trans. LXXI, 1781, 67.—Ib. Arctic Zoöl. No. 178. American Turkey, Latham, Syn. II, ii, 676. Gallopavo sylvestris, Novæ Angliæ, Ray, Syn. 51. Gallopavo sylvestris, Catesby, Carol. I, 1730, App. p. xliv.—Brisson, Orn. V, 1760, 162.