The Wild Turkey and Its Hunting

e so-to-speak meleagrine records-we can now pass to what is, comparatively speaking, the moder

ea-fowl. This is due to the fact that when turkeys were first described and written about they were, by several authors of the early times, strangely mixed up with those African forms, and the two were not entirely disentangled for some time, as we shall see further on in this chapter. In mo

leagrid?.

leagris

1, 1758, 156. Type, by subs, desig., Me

gallopavo

United States, west to Arizona an

llopavo gallopav

o silvestris Vieillot

eillot Nouv., Dict. d'H

d eastern Texas east to central Pennsylvania, and south to the Gulf coas

o merriami Nelson. Me

erriami Nelson, Auk,

thwest of Win

mountains of southern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizo

vo osceola Scott. Fl

cott, Auk, VII, Oct., 1890, 3

outhern

intermedia Sennett. R

Bull. U. S. Geol. & Geog. Surv. Terr., V

south to northeastern Coahuil

very numerous changes that have taken place through the ages which led up to its adoption. The discussion

a cock, and pavo a peafowl, while the meanings of the several words silvestris

s, Vermont, and Maine. In the winter of 1832-33, I purchased a few fine males in the city of Boston"; and further, "At the time when I removed to Kentucky, rather more than a fourth of a century ago, turkeys were so abundant that the price of one in the market was not equal to t

, when Aristotle wrote his work "On Animals," over three hundred years before the birth of Christ, upward o

7th centuries erroneously conceived that the term had something to do either with the Turks or their country. But this idea has now been entirely abandoned, for it h

finally applied only to the New World species, and the West African form was thereafter called "Guinea-fowl."[10] After the word turkey was more generally applied to the bird now universally so known, some believe that there was another

at

d turkey and probably a female. Lower jaw removed and shown in Fig. 9. No. 19684, Coll. U. S. National Museum. Fig. 9. Lower jaw of the skull shown in Fig. 8. Superior aspect. Fig. 10. Upper view of the skull of a wild Florida turkey (Melea

ertain who first described the wild species, the opinion seems to be pretty general that this was done by Oviedo in the th

d of peacock abounding in New Spain, which had already in 1526 been transported in a domestic stat

ctions of the newly discovered countries was surprisingly extensive. He speaks of it as a kind of Peacock found in New Spain, of which a number had been transported to the islands of the Spanish Main, and domesticated in

ar regard to the natural history. It appears from him, that the Turkey was in his days an inhabitant of the greater islands and of the mainland. He speaks of them as Peacocks; for being a new bird to him, he adopts that name from the resemblance he thought they bore to the former. 'But,' says he, 'the neck is bare of feathers, but covered with a skin which they

distinctly: 'Habitat in America septentrionali,' and quotes as his first reference (after Fn. Soec. 198), the Gallopavo sylvestris nov? angli?, or New England Wild Turkey of Ray. Brisson distinguished the two perfectly, giving an elaborate description, a copious

the best authors on the subject, endeavor to show how, after the wild turkey was found in America by different navigators and explorers, it was brought, from time to time, to

he Atlantic on shipboard in comfort and safety, landing in as good a condition-if properly cared for during the voyag

uffon (Ois, II, pp. 132-162), Broderip (Zool. Recreat. pp. 120-137), Pennant (Arct. Zool. pp. 291-300), and others, practically cleared up nearly all the points on this part of the turkey's history, making but a few statements that are not wholly reliable and worthy

the wild turkey invariably referred to by all authors when writing on the history of that bird. As it is only accessible to the few, and so full of reliable information, I propose to give h

n suit no other than that fowl. 'They want,' says he, 'natural affection towards their young; their head is naked, and on the top is a hard round body like a peg or nail; from their cheeks hangs a red piece of flesh like a beard. It has no wattles like the common poultry. The feathers are black, spotted with white. They have no spurs; and both sexes are so alike as not to be distinguished by the sight.'

the Turkey to be thought a native of India. He quotes ?lian for that purpose, who tells us, 'That in India are very large poultry not with combs, but with various coloured crests interwoven like flowers, with broad tails either ben

tail like the Peacock (Edw. II. 67.), but trails it like the Pheasant. The Catreus of Strabo (Lib. XV. p. 1046) seems to be the same bird. He describes it as uncommonly beautiful and spotted, and very like a Peacock. The former author (De Anim. lib. XVII, c. 23.) gives more minute account of this species, and under the same name. He

h of India, where Clitarchus might have observed it; for the march of Alexander was through

es are unknown in the state of nature. Europe has no share in the question;

po, capital of Syria, they are only met with, domesticated like other poultry. (Russel, 63). In Armenia they are unknown, as well as in Persia; having been brought from Venice by

but were introduced there from other countries. He errs f

ause that gentleman with his pen traveled round the world in his easy chair, during a very long i

none are found in Mindanao" (Bar

e negroes declining to breed any on account of the great heats (Bosman, 229). Prosper Alpinus satisfies us they are not found either in Nubia or in Egypt. He describes the Meleagrides of the

It was introduced into Italy from Africa, and from Rome into our country. They were neglected here by reason of their tenderness and difficulty of rearing. We do not find them in the bills of fare of our ancient feasts (neither in that of George Nevil nor among the delicacies mentioned in the Northumberland household book begun in the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII); neither do we find the turkey; which

native of the old world, I must now bring my proofs of its being only a native

the male was Huexolotl, of the female Cihuatotolin. He gives them the title of Gallus Indicus and Gallo Pavo. The Indians, as well as the Spaniards, domesticated these useful birds. He speaks of the size by comparison, saying that th

r. des Indes, 491); but since I can discover no traces of them in that diligent and excellent naturalist Marcgrave, who resided long in that country, I must deny my assent. But the former is confirmed by

landing in 1564, and by his historian has represented them with great fidelity in the fifth plate of the recital of his voyage (Debry): from his time the witnesses to their being natives of the continent are innumerable

e 15th of Henry VIII. (Baker's Chr. Anderson's Dict., Com. 1, 354. Hackluyt, II, 165, makes their introduction about the year 1532. Barnaby Googe, one of our ea

ingdom from that period; insomuch that they grew common in every farm-yard, and became even a dish in our rural feasts by the year 1585; for we

and Porke, shred

, and Capon, and

and Nuts, jolie

ountrie, is coun

that the very first which was eaten in that Kingdom appeared at the nu

te

y Dr. Shufeldt. pmx, premaxillary; n, nasal bone; l, lacrymal bone; eth, ethmoid; p, parietal; so, supraoccipital; pl, palatine; ju, jugal; ty, tympanic; q, quadrate; a, a

al edition of his book, which I have not seen, appeared in 1791. I have, however, examined the edition of 1793, wherein on page 14 he says: "Our turkey of America is a very different species from the Me

ey begin at early dawn and continue till sunrise, from March to the last of April. The high forests ring with the noise, like the crowing of the domestic cock, of these social sentinels; the watchword being caught and repeated, from one to another, for hundreds of miles around, insomuch that the whole country is for an

American Philosophical Society in which the author has shown that at least two distinct species of Meleagris, or turkey, are known within the limits of North America. These are the Meleagris gallopavo, or Common Domesticated Turkey,

its of the United States, before these tribes had been visited by the Europeans. It is certain, however, that the turkey was not domesticated by th

y. He pointed out how birds, the turkey included, change their plumage after domestication, and, after giving what he knew of the introduction of the turkey into Spain from America and the West Indies

o, apparently taking the similarity of the vernacular names into account, made anatomical comparisons of the organs of smell in the turkey and the turkey buzzard. Naturally, he found them very different,-quite as different, perhaps

ese two birds were really distinct species has long existed in my mind. More than fifty years ago, when I first saw a Wild Turkey, I was led to conclude that one never could have been produced from the other." [Bases it on differences of external characters] (p. 179), adding toward the close of his article: "I defy anyone to show a Turkey, even

papers on the subject he quotes from Martin the same paragraph which Baird quoted in his article in the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture (1866 antea), whi

r comparative osteology and their eggs, it will be as well to reproduce here a few more statements made by Ben

h of his theory. Since the publication of his Miscellanies, in 1781, the knowledge that has been obtained of the existence of large flocks of turkeys, perfectly wild, clothed in their natural plumage, and displaying their native

rd to a state of domestication, and very soon thereafter it was introduced into England. Spain and England were the great maritime nations of those times, and this fact will amply account for the early introduction of the bird into the latter country. Singularly enough, however, we have no account of any kind

s, hoppes, pic

ngland all

or the 15th of the re

e, who published it in his work. This appeared in the year 1614, and he refers to "those outlandish birds call

e, bearing date of 1582, mentions, among other valuable things introduced into England from foreign parts, 'Turkey-Cocks and hennes' as havin

pensive dish at festivals,-the first were obtained from the Levant, while the latter were to be found in poultry yards nearly everywhere. In one of th

half a crown each for capons. At this rate, turkeys could not have been so very scarce in those parts.[28] "Indeed they had become so plentiful in 1573," continues Bennett, "that honest Tusser, in

an, published by him in 1535. His description is so true to nature as to have been almost wholly relied on by every subsequent writer down to Willoughby. He spea

been entirely forgotten, and for the next two centuries we meet with little else in the writings of ornithologists concerning them than an accumulation of citations from the ancients, which bear no manner of relation to them. In the year 1566 a present of twelve turkeys was thought not unworthy of being offered by the municipality of Amiens to their king, a

he country from whence, this most useful bird was introduced into any European states. Little therefore is gained from its early

f Shooting and Fishing, in New York City, I published a number of criticisms

"All recent ornithologists have considered the wild turkey of Mexico and the southwestern United States (aside from M. gallopavo intermedia) as the ancestor of the domesticated bird. This idea is certainly erroneous, as

at

tional Museum. (See Fig. 8, Pl. II.) e, bony entrance to ear. Compare contour line of cranium with Fig. 14. Fig. 14. Left lateral view of the cranium of a tame turkey; male. Dr. Shufeldt's private collection. Fig. 15. Direct posterior view of the cranium of a tame

ong the Indians of that region, and within a few

ld turkeys occur is the eastern slope of the Cordillera in Vera Cruz, and there is every reason to supp

iption of the adult male M. gallopavo in the 'Catalogue of Birds Brit. Mus.' (xxii, p. 387), and an adult female is described in the same volume from Ciudad Ranch Durango.... Thus it will become necessary to treat M. gallopavo and M. mexicana as at least sub

rriami and gives full descriptions of the

very best ornithological and other authorities. Domesticated turkeys are now found in nearly all parts of the world, while in only a very few instances has any record been kept of the different times of their introduction. With the view of accumulating such data, one would have to search the

sented quite apart from anything to do with their nests, nesting habits, and much else which will be fully treated in other chapters of this book. In some works we meet with the literature of all these subjects together, others have only a part, while still others are confined to one thing, as the eggs.[32] Darwin in his works paid considerable attention to the wild and tame turkeys. He states that "Professor Baird be

the United States species alone, but was likewise from a southern form, and he went so far as to believe that

d (or Cambridge), all of which, if precluded from crossing with other breeds, propagate their kind truly. Of these kinds, the most distinct is the small, hardy, dull-black Norfolk turkey, of which

bare quills, and a tuft of soft down growing at the end.'[35] Many of the young birds whilst young inherited this kind of crest, but afterwards it either fell off or was pecked out by the other birds. This is an interesting case, a

not be of any use, and it is doubtful whether it can be ornamental in the eyes of the female bi

d so it may be, or it may possibly be due to the direct action of putrid matter; but we should be very cautious in dra

at

; q, quadrate; c, occipital condyle; mxp, maxillo-palatine; pl, palatines. Fig. 19. Skeleton of the left foot of a wild turkey (female?) No. 19684, Coll. U. S. National Museum. Several views of the skull of this individual are given above. The shortest toe is the hind toe or hallux, and has a claw and a

bridgeshire breed may spring from the southern form the M. mexicana of Gould (P. Z. S. 1856, p. 61), which indeed it very much resembles, especially in having its tail-coverts and quills tipped with white or light ochreous-points that recent North American orni

the case of M. g. merriami "A few of the gobblers had spurs; in one instance these took the form of a blunt, rounded knob half an inch long. In o

go from the pen of that very excellent naturalist, the late Judge Caton of Chicago. This contribution is rather a

fic Coast. I have at various times sent in all about forty to California, in the hope that it may be acclimatized in the forests. Their numerous enemies have thus far prevented success in this direction, but they have done reasonably well in domestication, and Captain Rodgers of the United States Coast Survey has met with remarkable success in hybridizing them with the domestic bronze turkey. Last spring I sent some which were placed on Santa Clara Island, off Santa Barbara. They remained contentedly about the ranch building and, as I am informed, raised three broods of young which are doing well. As there is nothing on the island more dangerous to them

h the tame have been eminently successfu

icated, and that each succeeding generation bred in domestica

rom these brilliant colors which are so constant on the wild turkey of the forest, so that it is simply a question of time-and indeed a very short time-when they will los

ariety, showing not the least sexual aversion always observed between animals of different species of

nly ten years of domestication, all directly tending to the form, habits, and colorings of the domestic turkey,-in all things which distinguish the domestic from the wild turkey,-what might we not expect from fifty or a hundred years of domestication? I know that the

untry, the domestic turkey has gradually lost the markings which told of the presence of the wild; though judicious breeding has preserved and rendered more or less constant some of this evidence in what is called the do

it is known that not only our domestic turkey, but even our barnyard fowls, relapse to the wild state in a single generation when they are reared in the woods and entirely away from the influence of man, gradually assuming uniform and constant colorings. But I will not discuss the question whether the Mexican wild turkey is of a dif

re so like those of the tame turkey that no one can select one from the other. The ground color is white, over which are scattered reddish-brown specks. These differ in shades of color, but much more in numbers. I have seen some on which scarcely any sp

le at the same time it may be said that the ground color is not always

for the different kinds of eggs that turkeys lay. They not only differ in size, form, and markings, but in ground colors, numbers to the clutch, and some other particulars. Then it is true that no wild turkey hen, of any of the known subspecies or species of this country, has ever laid an egg but what some hen of the domestic breeds somewhere has not laid one practically e

ly examined, studied and compared, but, thanks to Dr. Richmond of the Division of Birds of the Museum, and to Mr. J. H. Riley, his assistant, I had such specimens as I needed loaned me from the general collection of the Museum, in

urch, Va. Figure 20 is an egg measuring 66 mm. x 45 mm., the color being a pale buffy-brown, finely and nearly evenly speckled all over with umber-brown, with

at

turkey (M.

. Shufeldt and somewhat reduced in reproduction. Fig. 20. Upper left-hand one. Fig.

rately abundant over the middle and the apical thirds, with none about the larger end or remaining third. Figure 22 (Plate VI) is No. 31185 of the collection of the U. S. National Museum (ex Ralph Coll.); it was collected

le buffy-brown or pale café au lait color, quite thickly speckled all over with fine dots and specks of light brown. Some few of the specks are of noticea

well-defined spots and dots of pale chocolate and reddish brown. In an occasional set these spots are pale lavender. Generally the markings are all small, ranging in size from a No. 6 shot to that of dust shot, but an exceptional set is sometimes heavily covered with both spots and

ional Museum collection is 61.5 by 46.5 millimetres. The large

l Museum collection, about whose identity there can be no possible doubt, were collected on Upper Lynx Creek, Arizona,

ine spots of reddish brown, pretty evenly distributed over the entire egg. The average measurements of

Museum collection, Pl. 3, Fig. 15) is one of

are of M. g. merriami, and I find them to agree exact

rmedia. They are of a pale ground color, all being uniformly speckled over with minute dots of lightish b

coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.) are practically unspotted, and such spots as are

te, all being of an earth brown, varying in shades. In the case of No. 25787 of this set, the dark-brown spots are more or less of a size and fewer in number; while one of them (No. 25787) is exactly like the egg of Plate VI, Fig. 22; finally, there is a pale one (No. 25787) with fine spots, few in number in middle third, very numerous at the ends. There are scattered large spots of a dark brown, the surface of each of which latter are raised with a kind of incrustation. Another egg (No. 27869) in the same tray (M.

, the young at various stages, nesting sites, and a great deal more having to do with the natural history of the family and the forms contained in it-it wou

eggs of M. g. merriami, and this I desire to publish here with a few notes, although in so doing

his Life Histories of North American Birds (loc. cit. p. 118): "That well-known ornithologist and collector, Mr. F. Stephens, took a probably incomplete set of nine fresh eggs of this species, on June 15th, 1884. He writes me: 'I was encamped about five miles south of Craterville, on the east side of the Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona; the nest was shown to my assistant by a charcoal burner. On his

oak tree on a hillside, near which a good-size yucca grew, covering, apparently, a part of the nest; the hollow in which the

of wild and domesticated turkeys. This is a subject I wrote upon many years ago; what I then said I have just read over, and I find I can do no better than quote the part contained in

asal bones indistinguishably fuse with the frontals; whereas, as a rule, in domest

craniofrontal region more concaved and wid

urkeys; and the median longitudinal line measured from these to the nearest point of the occipital ridge is longer in the tam

n M. g. merriami it is nearly always of a cordate outline, with the apex upward. In the case of the tame turkeys I have found it to aver

um almost invariably is pierced by a large irregular vac

longer in a wild turkey than in a tame one; and for the avera

orbit is more decided than it is in the tame turkey, where t

nes are rather longer and more slender in wi

the skull is smoother, with its salient apophyses less pronounced in them than in the wild types. There is a certain delicacy and lightn

more than natural, for the domestication of the turkey has not been of such a nature as to develop its brain mass through the influences of a species of education; its long contact with man has taught it nothing-quite the contrary, for the bird has been

ffected the size of the brain-mass of the latter species in the way above indicated, and perhaps it may be possible some day to appreciate this difference. Perhaps, too, there may have been also a slight tendency on

apart from the skull it presented the following characters: There were fifteen vertebr?, the last one having a pair of fr

bs that fail to meet the sternum, there being no

ee vertebr? between the consolidated dorsal ones and the pelvis; and the pelvis bears a pair of free ribs, the costal

r slender, being of a typical V-shaped pattern, with a small and straight hypocleidium. With a form much as we find it in the fowl, the pelvis is characterized by not having the ilia mee

te

itu. (M. g. merriami.) Photo by Mr.

ts phalanx does not bear a claw, and on the index metacarpal the indicial process is present and overlaps the shaf

ts middle for the same purpose. As I have already stated, the remainder of the skeleton of this bird is characteristically galli