WILD TURKEY
310. Meleagres gallopavo silvestris. 48 in.
Female much smaller and duller colored than the male. These fine, large
birds frequent woodlands and borders of streams, where they search
through the underbrush for food in the daytime and sleep in the tallest
trees at night. They are one of the shyest birds, and they have reasons
for being, for they have been hunted until there are none left in New
England and northern Middle States. Wild Turkeys strut and gobble
precisely like domestic ones. Their plumage is more of a coppery bronze
color and their upper tail coverts are rusty, without white edges.
Nest.—Eggs laid on the ground among leaves, usually in dense thickets;
buff, spotted with brown (2.55 × 1.90).
Range.—From Penn. and Ohio south to the Gulf States west to Arkansas.
310b., Florida Wild Turkey, found in Florida, is smaller. 310c., Rio
Grande Turkey, is found in southern Texas; it has upper tail-coverts
edged with buff.
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RING-NECKED OR MONGOLIAN PHEASANT
*** Phasianus torquatus ?
The male of this beautiful pheasant varies greatly in length according
to the development of the tail, sometimes being 36 in. in length; the
female averages about 22 in. and is plain colored, but still a very
handsome bird. Males vary greatly in the richness of their colors, and
in the width of the white collar on the neck, the latter depending upon
the extent to which they have been interbred with the English Pheasant,
the latter bird having no white on the neck. These pheasants have been
introduced in Oregon and Washington and are very abundant there now.
Attempts at introducing them in the East have not been as successful,
but in some private preserves they are doing well. They are rather
sluggish in their habits, compared to our Ruffed Grouse, and usually try
to escape by running or hiding rather than by taking wing; when they do
fly, they go in a straight line and rather slowly.
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