290. 1. Meleagris Gallopavo, Linn. Common Turkey.
Plate I. Male. Plate VI. Female and Young.
Tail with eighteen feathers. Male with a long tuft of bristles pendent from the lower part of the neck in front; frontal wattle blue and red, skin of the neck and head of various tints of blue and purple, caruncles bright red, changing to blue, legs purplish-red; upper parts brownish-yellow, with metallic lustre, changing to deep purple, fire-red, and bronzed green, the truncated tips of the feathers margined with velvet-black; on the hind parts, the black bands much broader; upper tail-coverts deep chestnut, glossed; wing-coverts like the back, excepting the primary coverts, which, with the quills, are dusky, transversely banded with white, the inner minutely mottled with dusky, on a light brownish-red ground; tail-feathers chestnut-red, narrowly barred and minutely dotted with black, a subternal broad band of black, the tips plain chestnut; lower parts like the upper, the tuft of bristles black. Female considerably inferior in size, with the wattles much smaller, the tuft on the breast comparatively small, and only in old birds; the colours of the plumage duller, there being little of the refulgent hues of the male; the lower parts brownish-black. Young before being fledged, are pale brownish-yellow above, pale yellowish-grey beneath, the top of the head brighter, marked in the middle with a longitudinal pale brown band; the back and wings spotted with brownish-black, excepting the smaller wing-coverts, which are uniformly dull brown.
Breeds from Texas to Massachusetts and Vermont. In the interior to the Missouri, and thence northward to Michigan. Common. Resident, though removing to considerable distances in autumn, in quest of food.
Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo, Bonap. Amer. Orn. v. i. p. 79.
Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 630.
Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 1, 33; v. v. p. 559.
Bill very short, stout, broader than high at the base, with the upper mandible convex, thin-edged, obtuse, the lower with the dorsal line convex, the tip rounded. Head small, oblong; neck of moderate length, or rather short; body very bulky. Feet rather of moderate length, stout; tarsus bare, anteriorly scutellate; hind toe rather small, third long, lateral nearly equal, all scutellate, anterior webbed at the base. Claws moderate, arched, compressed, obtuse. Plumage full and strong; feathers with the plumule much developed. Wings rather short, convex, rounded. Tail generally short and rounded, of more than twelve feathers. Tongue triangular, pointed; oesophagus with a very large crop; stomach a very strong muscular gizzard, with the lateral muscles highly developed, the epithelium dense, with two concave grinding surfaces; intestine long, and of moderate width; coeca very large, oblong, internally with reticulate ridges. Trachea without inferior laryngeal muscles. Nest on the ground, rudely constructed. Eggs numerous. Young covered with stiffish down.