PASSERES COKVIDAE GYMNOKITTA CYANOCEPHALA. 



333 



and in this manner the whole flock, which is often scattered along the ground 

 for fifty or seventy-five yards, moves as fast as a man can walk. An attempt 

 to shoot specimens from one of these feeding flocks by approaching from 

 the rear is generally unsuccessful, owing to the shyness of the birds, and 

 the rapidity with which they move. I prefer rather to come upon them 

 from the side, or, better still, to run to the front, and lie in wait for them, in 

 which case I usually get in two or three shots before they can retreat. The 

 report of a gun creates a great commotion in the flock, and sends every 

 member of it with a wild scream to the tallest trees, whence they will all 

 rise, and fly together to some distant retreat. This way of flying in a 

 compact flock is always practiced if a long flight is to be taken ; but if 

 merely passing from one hill, or from one grove, to another, they straggle 

 along, two or three or a dozen at a time. 



" At Fort Garland, Colo., in October, 1 874, 1 saw probably a hundred of 

 these birds in a dense, rounded mass, performing evolutions high in the air, 

 which I had never before known them to do; sweeping in wide circles, shooting 

 straight ahead, and wildly diving and whirling about, in precisely the same 

 manner that our common wild pigeons do when pursued by a hawk. This 

 singular performance, with intervals of rest in the pinons behind the fort, 

 was kept up for about two hours, apparently for no other purpose than 

 exercise." 



