Turkey (Meleagris), a genus of gallinaceous birds, according to some ornithologists of a distinct family, Meleagridæ, but included by others in Phasianidæ. The head is bare, the neck wattled, and the bill of the male surmounted with a conical fleshy caruncle, sometimes erect, sometimes elongated and pendulous. A curious tuft of long hair springs from the base of the neck of the male, and hangs down on the breast. The bill is rather short, strong and curved; the tail is broad and rounded, capable of being erected and spread out, as the male delights to do when he struts about in pride, with wings rubbing on the ground, uttering his loud peculiar gobble. The Common Turkey, the largest of gallinaceous birds, well known as an inmate of our poultry-yards, is a native of North America, where it exists in two forms. The typical
M. gallo-pavo, with the tail tipped with rusty, and the tail-coverts with dark chestnut, ranges from southern Canada to Florida and eastern Texas, and westward to the edge of the great Plains; farther south it is replaced by a subspecific form, M. mexicana, having the tail and its coverts tipped with buffy white, and inhabiting the table-lands of Mexico, and extending north to the southern border of the United States, and south to Vera Cruz. It is from this latter race that our domestic turkeys are descended, the breed having been introduced into Europe in the beginning of the 16th century by a lieutenant of Sebastian Cabot. Norfolk and Cambridge are celebrated for their turkeys; the Norfolk breed is black, and the Cambridge variegated or bronze, the birds of the latter colour most resembling the wild species. This, however, attains a larger size in its native woods than in the poultry-yard; and the finest tame turkeys are those of the American bronze breed, which has been created by crossing tame birds with the true M. gallo-pavo. The size of the birds has been thus increased, and the young rendered hardier. But the wild turkey is richer in colour and stronger on the wing than the tame; though even in the wild birds the wings are short, scarcely extending beyond the base of the tail, and their powers of flight are not great, inasmuch as when on their migrations they come to a river a mile wide many fall in on attempting to cross it. These, however, usually save themselves by swimming. Wild turkeys, like other game, have greatly decreased in the United States. The males associate in flocks of from ten to one hundred, and seek their food during great part of the year apart from the females, which go about singly with their young, or associate in flocks, avoiding the old males, which are apt to attack and destroy the young. At the pairing-time desperate combats take place among the males. Wild turkeys feed on all kinds of grain, seeds, fruits, grass, insects, and even on tadpoles and lizards. They roost on trees and make their nests on the ground, merely gathering together a few dry leaves, and often in a thicket. The eggs are usually from nine to fifteen in number, sometimes twenty. The birds spread themselves in summer over the higher grounds, but in winter congregate in the rich low valleys. The sexes mingle in winter, and form larger flocks than in summer.
On account of the size and the excellence of its flesh and eggs, the turkey is one of the most valued kinds of poultry. The management of it differs little from that of the common fowl. The young are tender for the first few weeks, and require care, particularly to keep them from getting wet by running among long grass, or the like; but afterwards they are sufficiently hardy. Nettles are excellent food for young turkeys, and are often chopped up for them, to be given in addition to grain, onion tops, dandelion, hard-boiled eggs, meal, boiled potatoes, and other such food.
The only other known species of turkey is Meleagris ocellata, a native of Yucatan and the adjacent parts of Honduras. It is not so large as the common turkey, and has no tuft on the breast. The neck is less wattled, but the head has a number of fleshy tubercles. The plumage is beautiful, rivalling that of the peacock in metallic brilliancy: blue, green, bronze, red, and golden hues being intimately and finely mingled, and forming eyes on the tail; whence the specific name. In South Africa the Bald Ibis (Geronticus calvus) and in Australia the Australian Bustard (Eupodotis australis) are incorrectly called wild turkeys. The so-called Brush-turkey or Talegalla (q.v.) belongs to a different family of gallinaceous birds, the Megapodes or Mound-birds (q.v.).