Habits. There is very little on record as to the possession of distinctive peculiarities by this race of North American Turkeys. If, as is now generally supposed, it be the original source whence the domestic fowl was derived, we are all sufficiently conversant with its performances in the barnyard, and its excellences for the table.
Specimens of its eggs collected in Arizona exhibit no noteworthy differences from the gallopavo.
In the accompanying foot-note we reproduce an article on the origin of the domestic Turkey, by Professor Baird, published in the Report of the Agricultural Department for 1866, which contains some points of interest, bearing on the origin of the domestic Turkey and the habits of the Mexican variety.[114]
Family TETRAONIDÆ.—The Grouse.
As already stated, the Tetraonidæ are pre-eminently characterized among gallinaceous birds by their densely feathered tarsi, and by the feathers of the nasal fossa or groove, which fill it completely, and conceal the nostrils. The toes are usually naked (feathered to the claws in the Ptarmigans), and with pectinations of scales along the edges. The tail-feathers vary from sixteen to eighteen and even twenty in number; the tail is rounded, acute, or forked. The orbital region is generally somewhat bare, with a naked stripe above the upper eyelid, beset by short fringe-like processes, while many genera have an inflatable air-sac on the side of the neck.
The following synoptical table will give a general view of the North American Tetraonidæ, although the arrangement is more artificial than natural. The species of Tetrao and Bonasa inhabit wooded regions; Lagopus belongs to the more arctic portions of the continent and the snowy ridges of the Rocky Mountains; the others are found in the great prairies of the West, Centrocercus being confined to the sterile plains covered with sage or wormwood.
The following synopsis is intended to aid in defining the genera, but does not profess to constitute a natural arrangement.
Genera.
A. Legs feathered to and on the basal membrane of the toes, which are bare. No ruff on the side of the neck, which, however, has an extensible bare space.