_Meleagris mexicana_, GOULD, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1856, 61.—BAIRD, Birds
N. Am. 1858, 618.—COUES, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1866, 93 (Fort Whipple,
Arizona).—ELLIOT, Illust. II, pl. xxxviii.—BAIRD, Rept. Agricultural
Dept. for 1866 (1867) 288.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 523. _Meleagris
gallopavo_, GRAY, Cat. Gallinæ, Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 42.
SP. CHAR. Similar to var. _gallopavo_, but feathers of the rump, the
tail-coverts, and tail-feathers, tipped with whitish, instead of dark
rusty; gloss more greenish. ♂ (44,731, Mirador): Wing, 20.50; tail,
18.50; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 6.50; middle toe, 3.50.
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.[114]