Part 97

HAB. Rocky Mountains, from Western Texas to Arizona, and south along the table land of Mexico.

Wild Turkeys from the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains differ strikingly from those east of the Mississippi in the feathers of the sides of the body behind, and in the upper and under tail-coverts. These are all tipped with light brownish-yellow for about half an inch, more or less with the region, and the tail is tipped with the same. The chestnut ground of the tail and coverts is also considerably lighter. The gloss on the feathers of the rump is green, not purple. The coverts, too, lack in a measure the purple shade in the chestnut. The metallic reflections generally have rather more green than in the eastern bird.

In one specimen (♀, 10,030, from Fort Thorn) the light edgings are almost white, and so much extended as to conceal the entire rump. All the feathers of the under parts of the body are edged broadly with white, and the tail is tipped with the same for more than an inch. This specimen also has the head considerably more hairy than in the eastern skins, but the others from the same region do not differ so much in this respect from eastern ones.

Two specimens from the Llano Estacado of Texas are exactly intermediate between New Mexican skins and examples from Arkansas, the former being typical mexicana, and the latter slightly different from true gallopavo. These Texan specimens have the tips of the upper tail-coverts pale ochraceous, instead of pure white; in the Arkansas skins these tips are rufous-chestnut, instead of dark maroon-chestnut, as in typical gallopavo from Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Many, or indeed most, specimens of mexicana have the black subterminal zone of the tail with a more or less distinct metallic bronzing, which we have never seen in any specimens of gallopavo.

It is to this race that we are indebted for the origin of our domestic Turkey, and not to that of the eastern parts of North America.

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.

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.

=Canace.= Tail broad, nearly even, or truncate, and rounded laterally, two thirds the wing. Nasal fossæ scarcely half the culmen.

=Centrocercus.= Tail excessively lengthened and cuneate; longer than the wings. Nasal fossæ two thirds the culmen. Shafts of feathers on the lower throat very spinous.

=Pediœcetes.= Tail very short, but graduated, and with the two middle feathers (perhaps tail-coverts) lengthened beyond the rest, and two thirds as long as the wing; the next longest half the wing. Nasal fossæ not half the length of culmen. Shafts of throat-feathers normal.

=B.= Legs feathered to the lower end of tarsus.

=Cupidonia.= Tail very short, truncate, but laterally graduated; half the wings. Sides of neck with long, pointed, or lanceolate, stiff feathers. Nasal fossæ scarcely one third the culmen.

=C.= Legs feathered to the claws.

=Lagopus.= Tail about two thirds the wing, truncate; of sixteen to eighteen feathers. Most species becoming white in winter; none of the other genera exhibiting this peculiarity.

=D.= Lower half of tarsi bare, with two rows of scutellæ anteriorly.

=Bonasa.= Sides of neck with a ruff of broad, truncate, soft feathers. Tail very broad, square, as long as the wings.

GENUS CANACE, REICHENBACH.

GEN. CHAR. Bill smooth, with no lateral groove, depressed, or broader than high. Feathers of the head and neck all normal, i.e. no crest, nor lengthened plumes of any kind. Tail lengthened (i.e. nearly equal to wing), rounded, the feathers broad to the end; consisting of from sixteen to twenty feathers. Toes naked.

Subgenera.

=Canace.= Tail of sixteen feathers; no air-sac on side of the neck. Size small. (Type, T. canadensis, L.)