VOL. II. } . Andrew Fackson Grayson. 59 
short distance, as it could soon be run down by the horse or dog 
were not some convenient thicket or hill near, from which to take 
its flight or conceal itself among the branches. 
At first sight one would suppose the road-runner, from its ter- 
restrial habits, to belong to the pheasant or to the gallinaceous 
species, but when examined more closely it resembles them in no 
oe particular. p 
The most remarkable feature about it, for a bird that passes most 
of its life upon the ground, is the form of its feet, the arrangement 
of the toes being zygodactyle or in pairs, two of them anterior 
and two posterior, which places it with the cuckoos, birds that are 
strictly arboreal; thus in this genus we see an arrangement of the 
toes, as strange as it is contrary to that of all ambulatory birds. 
I have met with the road-runner frequently in my travels in vari- 
ous parts of Mexico and California, but have seldom seen it in com- 
pany with other birds, either of its own or other kinds. I have 
sometimes seen them in pairs, and on one occasion, in Tehauntepec, 
‘I observed three or four together; these were among some tall 
weeds, and were uttering a few low, hoarse notes, but as soon as I 
was discovered, they immediately struck off in different directions 
and were soon lost to my sight. It is exceedingly shy and solitary 
in its habits, inhabiting the wildest and most unfrequented places. 
When I resided in San Jose, California, I had in my possession 
one of these birds which I kept in an exclosure of wire about ten 
feet square. It soon became quite tame, taking its food from my 
hand. I fed it principally upon raw meat, and sparrows which I 
captured in traps set in the garden, on purpose for my pet. These 
he would devour entire, after first picking out the wing and tail 
feathers; it appeared to be a difficult morsel for him to swallow, 
but he never failed after a few attempts. When a bird was given to 
him alive, if not very hungry he would play with it before killing, 
as a cat will do with a mouse, taking it in his bill and putting it in 
the center of the inclosure, where he would let it go; but as soon 
as the sparrow would attempt to make its escape, it was very quickly 
recaptured by its overpowering enemy and brought back to the 
same spot, when another opportunity would offer for its freedom, 
oF but to no purpose, the road-runner was too quick for him. After 
-_ worrying its victim for awhile in this way it would finally kill it by» 
~ taking it in its bill and beating the life out of it on the ground, as a 
