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.
[Illustration: _Meleagris gallopavo._]
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.
The wing-coverts are like the back; the quills, however, are
blackish-brown, with numerous transverse bars of white, half the width
of the interspaces. The exposed surfaces of the wing, however, and most
of the inner secondaries, are tinged with brownish-rusty, the uppermost
ones with a dull copper or greenish gloss.
The female differs in smaller size, less brilliant colors, absence
generally of bristles on the breast and of spur, and a much smaller
fleshy process above the base of the bill.
_Male._ Length, 48.00 to 50.00; extent, 60.00; wing, 21.00; tail, 18.50.
Weight, 16 to 35 lbs. _Female._ Weight about 12 lbs.; measurements
smaller in proportion.
HAB. Eastern Province of the United States, and Canada. West along the
timbered river-valleys towards the Rocky Mountains; south to the Gulf
coast.
There is some question as to the names to be applied to the two races of
Northern _Meleagris_, and especially as to which is entitled to bear the
name of _gallopavo_. The original description of _M. gallopavo_ quotes
the New England Turkey as described by Ray, but as far as the characters
given go refers rather to the domestic form, which is equivalent to _M.
mexicana_ of Gould. In this state of the case we therefore think it as
well to use _gallopavo_ for the eastern race, although the arguments of
Major Leconte and others in favor of applying it to the wild Mexican,
and its derivative the domestic variety, are not without much weight.
HABITS. The Wild Turkey is found throughout eastern North America, from
South Carolina northward, and from the Atlantic to Texas and Arkansas.
It has probably become an extinct species in New England, though within
a few years individuals have been shot in Montague, Mass., and in other
towns in Franklin County. The construction of railroads, however,
and the settlement of the country, have probably led to their final
extermination; at least, I have known of none being taken within the
limits of Massachusetts for several years.
In the unsettled portions of the Southern and Western States, and in
the country watered by the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers and
their affluents, these birds are comparatively plentiful, though the
question of their final extinction is probably only one of time, and
that not very distant. In Audubon’s day they were to be found along the
whole line of the Alleghanies, where they still occur, but have become
very wary and to be approached only with the greatest difficulty. In
Louisiana and in Kentucky, Audubon found them most abundant, and in
these States he enjoyed the most favorable opportunities for observing
their very remarkable habits in regions then comparatively undisturbed
by the intrusion of civilized man. They are said to be not uncommon in
Virginia, and are not unfrequently met with even in the vicinity of
Washington.
Dr. Woodhouse found this species abundant throughout the wooded portions
of the Indian Territory and Texas. While in the Creek country his party
killed numbers of them daily. Many of them were very large, and weighed
upwards of nineteen pounds each, although at that time they were in poor
condition. They were quite abundant along the Rio San Pedro in Texas.
Mr. Dresser found the Wild Turkey common in all the portions of Texas
and Mexico that he visited, and particularly so on the rivers between
San Antonio and the Rio Grande. His first Turkey hunt was on the Upper
Medina River, about forty miles from San Antonio. It proved to be wary
and difficult to approach in the daytime; but by watching to see where
they roosted, and visiting them by moonlight, one or two could generally
be secured. They generally preferred roosting in high cottonwood-trees,
on the banks of a stream, perching as high up as possible. He once saw
eleven Turkeys on one large bough of a cottonwood-tree on the Medina.
When the pecan-nuts are ripe the Turkeys become very fat, as they are
extremely fond of these nuts, which are very oily. One very plump bird
was found, after it had been dressed, to weigh sixteen pounds. Mr.
Dresser was informed by the hunters, that, for a nest, the Turkeys
scratch a hole in the ground, or make a sort of nest in the grass under
a bush, and that the eggs resemble those of the tame Turkey, except in
being smaller and more elongated in form. The Mexicans, on the Upper Rio
Grande, sometimes domesticate the Wild Turkey, and at Piedras Negras Mr.
Dresser saw two that had been caught when quite young and had become
very tame. The female was then sitting, and the eggs, when examined,
were found to agree with the account given him by the hunters.
Mr. Audubon, in his very full and minute account of their habits, speaks
of them as irregularly migratory and gregarious, their migrations having
reference only to the abundance of food, and the meeting together in
the same localities being to a large degree caused by the same source
of attraction,—the supply of mast in certain regions. In this way they
desert sections where the supply is exhausted, and advance towards those
where it is more plentiful.
Late in October these birds assemble in flocks in the rich bottom-lands
of the Western rivers, the male birds associating in parties of from
ten to a hundred, and keeping apart from the females. The latter are
simultaneously moving into the same regions, but only in small family
groups, each leading its own flock, then nearly grown. Gradually they
unite with other families, forming at length parties of seventy or
eighty. They are said to avoid very carefully the old males, who have
the very unparental disposition to destroy the young birds even when
nearly grown. These migrations are made on foot except when they are
compelled to cross a stream. On their first coming to the banks of a
river they are said to make a pause there of one or two days before they
attempt to cross, the old males strutting about up and down the banks,
making a loud gobbling, and calling to one another as if to raise their
courage to a befitting point. Even the females and the young assume
something of the same pompous demeanor, spreading out their tails,
running round one another, and making a loud purring noise. At length,
after this prolonged preparation for the passage, they all mount to the
top of a high tree, and, at a signal given by their leader, take flight
for the opposite shore. Occasionally some fall into the water, when
these bring the wings close to the body, spread out the tail, and plying
their legs with great vigor move rapidly towards the shore, where, by
a violent effort, they extricate themselves from the water. After thus
crossing a stream of any magnitude, they are often found in a bewildered
state, and fall an easy prey to the hunter.
Where their food occurs abundantly they separate into smaller flocks,
composed of birds of all ages and sexes. At times they are known to
approach farmhouses, associate with the domesticated fowl, and enter the
corn-cribs in quest of food, passing the fall and the winter in this
manner.
Early in February the love-season is said to commence, the first
demonstrations being made by the males, but for some time persistently
avoided by the females. At this period the sexes roost apart. When a
female utters a call-note, the male birds within hearing return the
cry, uttering notes similar to those with which the domestic Turkey
greets any very unusual sound. If the call-note has been uttered by a
female on the ground, the males fly to the place, spreading and erecting
their tails, drawing their heads back on their shoulders, depressing
their wings with a quivering motion, and strutting pompously about. At
the same time they emit from their lungs a succession of very peculiar
puffs. On these occasions the males often encounter each other, and
desperate contests ensue, which frequently have a fatal termination,
caused by furious blows inflicted on the head. When one Cock-Turkey
has thus destroyed its rival, it is said to caress the dead body in an
apparently affectionate manner.
When the Turkeys have mated, the connection is supposed to last for that
season, though a male Turkey is often known to have more than a single
mate; and the hens are said also to keep apart from the males while
they are laying their eggs, for the cock would inevitably destroy them.
At the end of the love-season the males become emaciated, and cease to
gobble. They then separate entirely from the females, and keep apart by
themselves until they recover their strength, when they reunite in small
flocks.
The female is said to begin to deposit her eggs about the middle of
April, selecting for that purpose a place as much concealed as possible
from her many enemies. The nest, always on the ground, consists of a few
withered leaves in a hollow scratched out by the side of a fallen log,
or the top of a prostrate tree, or under a thicket, or within the edge
of a cane-brake, but always in a dry place. The eggs sometimes amount to
twenty in number, though there are usually from ten to fifteen. They are
described as of a dull cream-color, sprinkled with reddish dots. When
the female leaves her nest, she is said to be very careful to cover them
with leaves, so that it is always difficult for any one to find them.
Mr. Audubon observed that Turkey-hens not unfrequently selected small
islands in which to deposit their eggs, apparently on account of the
great masses of drift-timber which accumulated at their heads, in which
they could seek protection and shelter.
If a female is approached while sitting on her eggs, she rarely moves
unless she is discovered. Mr. Audubon has frequently approached within
a few paces of a nest, the female remaining undisturbed. They seldom
abandon their nest when it has been discovered by man, but forsake it
if any of the eggs have been destroyed by any kind of animal. If the
eggs are taken or destroyed, the female prepares for another nest, but
otherwise has only one brood in a season. Audubon also states that he
has known several hens associate together, deposit their eggs in the
same nest, and rear their broods together, having once found three hens
sitting on forty-two eggs in a single nest, one female at least being
always present to protect it. When the eggs are near hatching, the
female will not leave her eggs under any circumstances, and will suffer
herself to be made a prisoner rather than abandon them. The mother
assists the young birds to extricate themselves from the egg-shell,
caresses and dries them with her bill, and aids them in their first
efforts to totter out of the nest. As the brood follow her, she is very
watchful against Hawks or other enemies, spreads her wings a little to
protect them, and calls them close to her side, keeping them on dry
ground and carefully guarding them from wet, which is very injurious to
them when young. When two weeks old, they begin to be able to follow
their mother, at night to roost in the low limb of some tree, and to
leave the woods in the daytime in quest of berries and other food. The
young usually feed on various kinds of small berries and insects. The
full-grown Turkeys prefer the pecan-nuts and wild grapes to any other
kind of food.
They are also said to feed on grass, various kinds of plants, corn,
and other grain, seeds, fruit, and also upon beetles, small lizards,
tadpoles, etc. In feeding in the woods, they turn over the dry leaves
with their feet, and seem instinctively to know the presence of suitable
food. They not unfrequently betray their presence in the neighborhood by
the bare places they thus leave behind them in the woods where they have
been feeding.
After heavy falls of snow and the formation of a hard crust, the Turkeys
are said to be compelled to remain several days on their roosts without
food thus proving their capability of enduring a continued abstinence.
Turkeys are hunted in various ways and by different expedients to
facilitate their destruction. In the spring they are attracted by
drawing the air, in a peculiar manner, through one of the second
joint-bones of a wing. The sound thus produced resembles the voice of
the female, on hearing which the male comes up and is shot. The cry of
the Barred Owl is also imitated at night where Turkeys are at roost,
who betray the place by their rolling gobble, uttered when alarmed. One
of the most common methods of capturing Wild Turkeys is by means of a
trap known as a Turkey-pen. A covered enclosure is made, constructed
of trees, about four feet high and of various sizes, closed everywhere
except at one end, where a small opening is left through which a small
trench is dug, sloping very gradually at both ends, into and from the
pen. The portion nearest the enclosure is covered. This passage-way, the
interior of the pen, and the vicinity of the opening, to some distance
into the forest, are strewn with corn. The Turkeys, attracted by the
corn, follow it into the pen, and when they wish to leave endeavor to
get out by the sides, but have not intelligence enough to escape by the
opening through which they entered. In this manner they are sometimes
entrapped in great numbers.
In unsettled parts of the country, Wild Turkeys are often known to
associate with tame ones, sometimes to fight with them and to drive them
from their food.
Mr. Audubon supposed our common tame Turkey to have originated in these
birds, yet in his accounts of the habits of the latter he mentions
several indications of divergence. A Wild Turkey which he had reared
almost from the shell, and which had become very tame, would never roost
with the domesticated birds, but always betook itself at night to the
roof of the house, where it remained until dawn.
Mr. Bachman states that Wild Turkeys kept in confinement, in a condition
of partial domestication, but separate from the domestic birds, lose
the brilliancy of their plumage in the third generation, become of a
pale brown, and have here and there an intermixture of white feathers.
On the other hand, Major Leconte states, most positively, that the Wild
Turkey has never been known to become so nearly domesticated as to
propagate its race in confinement, notwithstanding the many efforts made
to accomplish this result. This statement is, however, negative, and
must be taken with reservation. In 1852, in Mr. Barnum’s grounds, near
Niagara Falls, I saw Wild Turkeys with broods of young birds, though how
far successful this attempt proved in the sequel I do not know, and Dr.
Bachman’s statement seems to be quite positive evidence that they can be
thus reared.
Mr. Audubon describes the eggs of the Wild Turkey as measuring 2.87
inches in length and 2.00 in breadth, and rather pointed at one end;
their ground-color is given as of a uniform pale-yellowish tint, marked
all over with pale rusty-brown spots.
Specimens in my collection vary from 2.55 to 2.35 inches in length, and
in breadth from 1.85 to 1.75 inches. They are of an elongate-oval shape,
are pointed at one end, quite obtuse at the other. The ground is a rich
dark cream-color, very generally spotted with rounded blotches of a rare
umber-brown.
Meleagris gallopavo, var. mexicana, GOULD.