(Meleagris gallopavo)
Outside of the progenitors of our common barnyard fowl, there is no
wild bird that mankind has domesticated whose distribution in its
domestic state has become so wide as that of the wild turkey, and none
have been so highly prized as an article of food. It is from the
Mexican wild turkey, =Meleagris gallopavo=, that all of our domestic
turkeys have descended. First captured in Mexico by the early settlers
of that country, they were taken to the West Indies and there
domesticated as early as 1527, for Oviedo, in his "Natural History of
the Indias," speaks of the wild turkey having been taken from Mexico
to the islands and there being bred in a domestic state. From the West
Indies they were taken to Spain, France and England, and again brought
back to America as domestic fowls. In 1541 they must have been scarce
yet in England, for in an edict promulgated by Cranmer in that year,
the "turkey cocke" was named as one of "the greater fowles," and which
"an ecclesiastic was to have but one in a dishe." By 1573, however,
they must have become quite plentiful, for in that year Tusser
mentions them as the most approved "Christmas husbandlie fare."
Inasmuch as there were no settlements of either English, French or
Spanish in America north of Mexico until 1584, or in that section of
the country inhabited by the eastern species of wild turkey until
sixty years after the turkey is known to have been introduced into
England, the common belief that the eastern species (=Meleagris
sylvestris=) was the foundation of the domestic turkey is clearly an
error; but the ornithologist does not find it necessary to consult
history to determine the origin of the domestic turkey. That
distinguishing feature of the Mexican wild turkey (=Meleagris
gallopavo=), the broad, light sub-terminal of the rump feathers, is so
strong that even after three and a half centuries of domestication,
changes in color through selection in breeding, and possibly crossing
to some extent with the eastern and Florida species, those markings,
peculiar to it alone, are unmistakably present even in the
lightest-colored varieties.
As a game bird the turkey has but few equals. Like most of game birds
they are comparatively tame and unsuspicious until after they have
been hunted, and learned that of all animals man is their greatest foe
and most to be dreaded, for whenever he is within sight he is within
the range of his instruments of destruction. I have seen the Mexican
wild turkey constantly running or flushing in front of us from morning
till night as we traveled through their country for days. They showed
but little fear, for while we killed all we could eat, we were
constantly traveling, so that those that had been introduced to the
white man's methods of destroying were left behind us, and those in
front of us had yet the lesson to learn; but when the wild turkey has
been hunted a little it becomes about as wary, cunning and resourceful
as any bird that flies.
The Mexican wild turkey is the largest of the race, and has been, and is
yet, the most plentiful. They are strictly mountain dwellers, not often
found in altitudes of less than twenty-five hundred to three thousand
feet, and more frequently from four to six thousand, and even up to
eight thousand feet or more. They are strictly timber dwellers, usually,
if not always, living in the pine forests, for I can not call to mind a
single instance where I have found them except where pines of some
variety were the principal trees. In size, individuals vary a good deal.
So, also, will the general average be found to vary as much as ten
pounds in different localities. Generally the higher their habitat the
larger the birds, some of the old gobblers reaching forty pounds if not
more. I remember killing one in the Sierra Madres of northern Mexico
that I carried about three miles into camp over a very rough country. By
the time I got him there I was willing to bet my last "silver 'dobe"
that he weighed a ton. I have also killed some very large ones in the
San Francisco mountains of Arizona.
The wild turkey, like the mountain quail, has an up and down mountain
migration. In the early spring the hens begin to work up the mountains
and seek the densest jungles, and of course the gobblers follow them.
The gobblers are polygamous, and have but little respect for their
families. They will not only destroy the nests, but even the young
birds. For this reason the hens are very secretive in nesting, taking
as much care in hiding them away from the gobblers as from their other
enemies. As soon as the hens begin setting the gobblers gather in
flocks and remain by themselves until joined in the early fall by the
hens and their half-grown broods. After this the flocks soon begin
their migration to the lower hills and mountain openings, and
congregate into immense roosts. Places were once to be seen where they
had filled the trees for acres in such numbers as to break the limbs
in many instances. In those times and localities they were too tame
and too plentiful to afford much amusement to the man who hunted them
for sport, but with the exception of some places in Mexico that day
has passed, and the sportsman who hunts these grand game birds now
will find a quarry worthy of his skill and affording him sufficient
exertion to whet his appetite for the delicious feast they furnish
him.
Both the habits and the habitat of the wild turkey make the sport of
hunting them especially enjoyable. As soon as the gobblers are
deserted by the hens they become more wary, and the crack of a twig or
the sight of a man, be he ever so far away, and they at once seek
cover. Then the keen eye and the noiseless tread of the still hunter
is called upon for his best and most careful efforts, for the eyes of
these gobblers are quick to catch the slightest move and their ears
acute to the faintest sound. The curiosity of a deer often makes him
hesitate long enough for the opportunity of a shot, but the gobbler,
after the hens have left him, is no longer lured by curiosity. His
business is to keep out of sight, and he can do it, after he has once
learned the destructiveness of man, just a little more successfully
than any other bird or animal that I have ever hunted.
There are no wild turkeys west of the Colorado river, nor on the
peninsula of Lower California; but there can be no reason to doubt
that, had the mountains of Arizona connected with the pines of the
Coast range in San Bernardino county or with the Sierras of Inyo or
Kern, the mountains of California would have been as well supplied
with turkey as are its valleys with quail.
=Color=--The color of the wild turkey varies very much except in those
that are found in the higher mountains and far away from civilization.
Domestication of over three hundred and fifty years has not yet robbed
the turkey of its love for the wild and they are often seen long
distances away from the farms feeding contentedly. In countries where
the wild turkey still existed these tame varieties of various colors
have mixed with them, often to such an extent as to change the color
very materially. I have seen flocks in Mexico ranging close to ranch
houses with turkeys among them so light-colored that they were no
doubt tame birds that had wandered away with their wild progenitors.
The wild turkey of Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado is a dark
bronze bird with a light-colored rump, caused by the upper tail
coverts being tipped with a broad subterminal band of white, narrowly
tipped with black. The tail feathers are dark brown, spotted with
black and tipped with white.
=Nest and Eggs=--The nest of the wild turkey is generally in a
depression in the ground, high up on the mountains, and carefully
hidden away in some dense thicket. I cannot call to mind ever seeing
but two nests. One of these had but seven eggs while the other had
seventeen. The markings are the same as those of the tame turkey.
=Measurements=--The total length varies from three to four and a half
feet; wing 18 to 24 inches.
[Illustration: MONGOLIAN PHEASANT (Phasianus torquatus)]