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Florida Wild Turkey
The Florida Wild Turkey varies but little from the more northern species, being somewhat smaller, darker in colour, and has irregular white markings on the wings in place of the wide white bars.
Breeding Range--Southern Florida.
The breeding habits are described as almost identical with those of the northern wild turkey.
These magnificent birds are still fairly common in parts of Florida, though much less so than they were a few years ago. When I was in southern Florida in 1892 I sometimes saw in one day as many as seven droves, numbering in all from twenty-five to forty birds. During the seventeen days I camped out I secured thirty-two specimens without very much trouble. This was just before the mating season. The droves contained from three to nine birds, and where both sexes were together the males were usually birds of the previous year. The older males were most often in flocks of about three, with no hens; the very old gobblers were invariably solitary. The males ranged in weight from eight pounds (yearling birds) to twenty-three pounds. The hens weighed rather under seven and a half pounds.