42 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



weak a,t the heel, so that the birds cling to the fingers or the twigs of their 

 nest with sume power, but are quite unable to rise. Whenever there were very 

 many young birds in the nest they presented a peculiarly scrambled appear- 

 ance, due, I believe, to the constant disturbance at feeding time more than to 

 restlessness, for they usually lie quite still. By May 1 [the birds were taken 

 from the nest on April 29] feathers were appearing rapidly on my young birds, 

 first on the top of the head, back, and wings, and then on the belly, tail, and 

 throat. Once the blood-quills had started to burst, development was very 

 rapid. On May 4 the birds were quite well feathered, the tails being one and 

 one-half inches long, and they were quite able to walk unsteadily. It is at this 

 period, or a little before, that the young leave the nest, though there must be 

 innumerable dangers for the rather weak-legged creatures. Several times I 

 have come across young birds able to run well, but still in trees, which leads 

 me to believe that the young may, like young Green Herons, spend a portion of 

 their early active life climbing about from branch to branch. 



During the spring and summer of 1914 I reared these two young 

 roadrunners, feeding them uncounted hundreds of grasshoppers, 

 cave crickets, tarantulas, centipedes, scorpions, lizards, snakes, mice, 

 cotton rats, and small birds. They were the most entertaining pets I 

 ever had. Eventually they learned to capture their own food. Con- 

 cerning this period of their life I have published the following 

 paragraphs (1936) : 



After three weeks they became sturdy enough to catch part of their own 

 food. With patient coaxing they were taught to pick up grasshoppers tossed to 

 them, and finally to run after and capture crippled insects. Content at first, 

 perforce, with sluggish, wingless nymphs which were abundant, they stole about 

 through the weeds, wings pressed neatly against their slender bodies, snapping 

 up the insects as fast as they could find them. Grasshoppers, often still alive 

 and kicking, they swallowed with a toss of the head and a hollow gulp. Large 

 green or gray cave crickets, which live in piles of boards, or in damp, shadowy 

 places, were especially prized. When a yellow- or coral-winged grasshopper 

 rose noisily from the path, the birds crouched in momentary fear, but soon 

 began to mark the return to earth of the clackety aeronaut and to steal up 

 behind clumps of grass, intent upon a killing. 



Finally they learned to capture the biggest, noisiest, and wariest grasshoppers 

 on the prairies. They would watch a coral-wing in his courtship flight and, 

 running stealthily, wait until the performer dropped to the ground. With a 

 bound over low weeds, a dart across the open, and a final rush with outspread 

 wings and tail, they would frighten their prey into the air, leap nimbly after 

 him, nab him unerringly with their bills, and descend gracefully on outspread 

 wings to beat him to insensibility with a whack or two on a stone. 



Once they had learned to capture grasshoppers, their food problem was 

 largely solved and, since they showed no inclination to run away, they were at 

 liberty most of the time. They ran about the yard, playing with each other, 

 or catching insects. In the heat of mid-day they sought the shelter of broad, 

 cool leaves, and sprawled in the sand. Daily, often many times daily, I took 

 them for a walk across the prairie. Following me closely or running at my 

 side, they watched the big world with eyes far keener than my own. Grass- 

 hoppers which I frightened from the grass they captured in side expeditions. 

 If I paused near a flat stone, they urged me on with grunts, bit gently at my 

 hands, and raced back and forth in an ecstasy of anticipation. 



