310. Meleagres gallopavo silvestris. 48 in.

Female much smaller and duller colored than the male. These fine, large birds frequent woodlands and borders of streams, where they search through the underbrush for food in the daytime and sleep in the tallest trees at night. They are one of the shyest birds, and they have reasons for being, for they have been hunted until there are none left in New England and northern Middle States. Wild Turkeys strut and gobble precisely like domestic ones. Their plumage is more of a coppery bronze color and their upper tail coverts are rusty, without white edges.

Nest. - Eggs laid on the ground among leaves, usu-ally in dense thickets; buff, spotted with brown. (2.55 x 1.90).

Range. - From Penn. and Ohio south to the Gulf States west to Arkansas. 310b., Florida Wild Turkey, found in Florida, is smaller. 310c, Rio Grande Turkey, is found in southern Texas; it has upper tail-coverts edged with buff.