Part 95

Mr. Dresser states that the Chacalacca is very common near Matamoras and Brownsville, and that in the autumn great numbers are exposed for sale in the market of the latter place. The Mexicans are said to hold it in high esteem for its fighting qualities, and often keep it in a domesticated state and cross it with the common fowl, making use of the hybrid for cock-fighting. Mr. Dresser was so informed by many Mexicans, upon whose word he placed reliance, and was an eyewitness of a fight in which one of these hybrids was engaged. Mr. Dresser had a tame one, when at Matamoras, that became so familiar that he could hardly keep it out of his room. This bird would occasionally go away for a day or two, and pay a visit to the poultry belonging to a neighbor; whenever he missed it, he had only to go to a poultry-yard near the house, where it could generally be found.

This species was first taken within the United States by Colonel McCall, who obtained it in Texas, and who enjoyed and improved unusually good opportunities to observe the habits and manners of this bird. From his notes, quoted by Mr. Cassin, we give the following:—

“This very gallant-looking and spirited bird I saw for the first time within our territory in the extensive forests of chaparral which envelop the Resaca de la Palma. Here, and for miles along the Lower Rio Grande, it was abundant; and throughout this region the remarkable and sonorous cry of the male bird could not fail to attract and fix the attention of the most obtuse or listless wanderer who might chance to approach its abode. By the Mexicans it is called Chiac-chia-lacca, an Indian name, without doubt derived from the peculiar cry of the bird, which strikingly resembles a repetition of these syllables. And when I assure you that its voice, in compass, is equal to that of the Guinea-fowl, and in harshness but little inferior, you may form some idea of the chorus with which the forest is made to ring at the hour of sunrise. At that hour, in the month of April, I have observed a proud and stately fellow descend from the tree on which he had roosted, and, mounting upon an old log or stump, commence his clear, shrill cry. This was soon responded to in a lower tone by the female, the latter always taking up the strain as soon as the importunate call of her mate had ceased. Thus alternating, one pair after another would join in the matutinal chorus, and, before the rising sun had lighted up their close retreat, the woods would ring with the din of a hundred voices, as the happy couples met after the period of separation and repose. When at length all this clatter had terminated, the parties quietly betook themselves to their morning meal. If surprised while thus employed, they would fly into the trees above, and, peering down with stretched necks, and heads turned sideways to the ground, they would challenge the intruder with a singular and oft-repeated croaking note, of which it would be difficult to give any adequate idea with words alone.”

Colonel McCall adds that the volubility and singularity of its voice is its most striking and remarkable trait. While on his march from Matamoras to Tampico he had encamped, on the 30th of December, at the spring of Encinal, whence, a short time before sunset, he rode out in search of game. Passing through a woodland near the stream, his ears were saluted with a strange sound that resembled somewhat the cry of the panther (Felis onca). He was at a loss to what animal to ascribe it, and, dismounting, crawled cautiously through the thicket for some distance, until he came upon an opening where there were some larger trees, from the lower branches of one of which he ascertained that the sound proceeded. There he discovered a large male bird of this species, ascending towards the top of the tree, and uttering this hitherto unheard sound, as he sprang from branch to branch in mounting to his roost. In a few moments his call was answered from a distance, and soon after he was joined by a bird of the year. Others followed, coming in from different quarters, and there were in a little while five or six upon the tree. One of these discovered the intruder and gave the alarm. The singular cry of the old bird ceased, and they all began to exhibit uneasiness and a disposition to fly, whereupon Colonel McCall shot the old bird.

Colonel McCall also states that the eye is a remarkable feature in the living birds of this species, being full of courage and animation, equal, in fact, in brilliancy to that of the finest gamecock. He frequently noticed this bird domesticated by the Mexicans at Matamoras, Monterey, etc., and going at large about their gardens. He was assured that in that condition it not unfrequently crossed with the common fowl.

In the wild state the eggs are said to be from six to eight, never exceeding the last number. They are white, without spots, and rather smaller than a pullet’s egg. The nest is usually on the ground, at the root of a large tree or at the side of an old log, where a hole several inches deep is scratched in the ground; this is lined with leaves, and the eggs are always carefully covered with the same when the female leaves them for the purpose of feeding. If disturbed while on her nest, she flies at the intruder with great spirit and determination.

Eggs of this species, from Matamoras, are of an oblong-oval shape, equally pointed at either end, and measure 2.35 inches in length by 1.65 in breadth. They are of a dirty-white color with a light tint of buff, and have a slightly roughened or granulated surface.

FAMILY MELEAGRIDÆ.—THE TURKEYS.

CHAR. Bill moderate; the nasal fossæ bare. Head and neck without feathers, but with scattered hairs, and more or less carunculated. An extensible fleshy process on the forehead, but no development of the bone. Tarsus armed with spurs in the male. Hind toe elevated. Tail nearly as long as the wing, truncate, of more than twelve feathers.

The family Meleagridæ, or Turkeys, as at present known, is entirely confined to North and Middle America, and represented only by the genus Meleagris. It forms, in combination with the Guinea-fowls (Numididæ), the Pheasants and common fowls (Phasianidæ), and the Grouse and Partridges (Tetraonidæ), a peculiar group, to which the name Alecteropodes has been given by Professor Huxley; this group is well distinguished from the Cracidæ and the Megapodidæ (which form together an opposed group, called Peristeropodes), in addition to the characters enumerated under the family names, by salient characters developed in the sternum. In the present family and its relations, as all may recall from experience at the dinner-table, the sternum, or breast-bone, is divided into a long narrow keel (lophosteon) extending far backwards; while towards the front, from each side, and separated by a very deep notch from the median portion, a wing (pleurosteon) originates obliquely, and, soon splitting in two, extends also far backwards; in front, two processes (called costal) project well forwards. In the Cracidæ and Megapodidæ, on the contrary, the sternum is not so split, the keel and wing, as above, being more continuous and the notch comparatively shallow; the costal processes are also comparatively small and obtuse.

Externally the Turkeys have considerable resemblance to the Guinea-fowls (Numididæ), but they differ from them in having a backward process of the second metacarpal bone, and in the form of the costal processes of the sternum and of the acromial process of the scapular; while they are distinguished from the Guinea-fowls and all others by the form of the pelvis (the post-acetabular area is greater than the pre-acetabular, and is also longer than broad), and by the furcula (wish-bone), which is very weak and straight, with its point (hypocleidium) straight and rod-like. To Professor Huxley we are indebted for having first pointed out most of these characters.

Although the number of known species of Meleagridæ as we understand them, is limited to two now living, the family was apparently well represented in former geological periods, no less than three having been already described from more or less perfect remains; of these, two have been found in the post-pleiocene of New Jersey, one of which (Meleagris altus, Marsh, or M. superbus, Cope) was taller than the common Turkey, while the other (Meleagris celer, Marsh) was much smaller. The third species (Meleagris antiquus, Marsh) lived at a still earlier date, its remains having been obtained in the miocene beds of Colorado.

GENUS MELEAGRIS, LINNÆUS.

Meleagris, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. 1735. (Type, Meleagris gallopavo, LINN.)

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 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.

SP. CHAR. The naked skin of the head and neck is blue; the excrescences purplish-red. The legs are red. The feathers of the neck and body generally are very broad, abruptly truncate, and each one well defined and scale-like; the exposed portion coppery-bronze, with a bright coppery reflection in some lights, in the specimens before us chiefly on the under parts. Each feather is abruptly margined with velvet-black, the bronze assuming a greenish or purplish shade near the line of junction, and the bronze itself sometimes with a greenish reflection in some lights. The black is opaque, except along the extreme tip, where there is a metallic gloss. The feathers of the lower back and rump are black, with little or no copper gloss. The feathers of the sides behind, and the coverts, upper and under, are of a very dark purplish-chestnut, with purplish-metallic reflections near the end, and a subterminal bar of black; the tips are of the opaque purplish-chestnut referred to. The concealed portion of the coverts is dark chestnut barred rather finely with black; the black wider than the interspaces. The tail-feathers are dark brownish-chestnut, with numerous transverse bars of black, which, when most distinct, are about a quarter of an inch wide and about double their interspaces; the extreme tip for about half an inch is plain chestnut, lighter than the ground-color; and there is a broad subterminal bar of black about two inches wide on the outer feathers, and narrowing to about three quarters of an inch to the central ones. The innermost pair scarcely shows this band, and the others are all much broken and confused. In addition to the black bars on each feather, the chestnut interspaces are sprinkled with black. The black bands are all most distinct on the inner webs; the interspaces are considerably lighter below than above.

There are no whitish tips whatever to the tail or its coverts. The feathers on the middle of the belly are downy, opaque, and tipped obscurely with rusty whitish.