If there is any member of the feathered tribe entitled
to the designation of royal game bird, it is the wild turkey. This
magnificent bird, whose size and cunning challenges at once the
admiration and the skill of the sportsman, is a native of North and
Central America, and found in its wild state in no other part of the
globe. The ocellated turkey, the Central American species, is even
more gaudy in plumage than the peacock, but as it is not found within
the territorial scope of these articles, I shall leave its resplendent
colors to scintillate in its own tropic sun, undescribed.
Of the North American turkeys the scientist recognizes four varieties.
The =Meleagris sylvestris= of the eastern states, except Florida, the
=Meleagris sylvestris osceola= of Florida, the =Meleagris sylvestris
elliotti= of the Rio Grande district of southern Texas and
northeastern Mexico, and the =Meleagris gallopavo= of Arizona, New
Mexico, part of Colorado, and west and south through the larger
portion of old Mexico. It is of this last species that I shall write.
[Illustration: WILD TURKEY (Meleagris gallopavo)]