490 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



tors it is apt to lose its iiresence of mind, and to be forced to make an igno- 

 minious retreat. 



These birds are said to be attracted by collections of cattle and horses, 

 upon the bodies of whicli they are often seen to aliglit, feeding upon tlie 

 ticks witli wliicii they are infested. They are at once familiar" and wary, 

 permitting a limited acquaintance, but a too near approach sets the whole 

 Hock ill motion. It moves in a very peculiar gliding Hight. In feeding it 

 is omnivorous ; besides insects of all kinds, such as ticks, gras.shoppers, bee- 

 tles, etc, it eats berries uf various kinds, lizards, and other kinds of food. 

 It catches insects on the ground by very active jumps, pursues them on the 

 wmg, and with its sliarp tiiin bill digs them out in the earth. They hop 

 about and over tlie l)odies of cattle, especially when they are lying down, 

 and when grazing they have been observed clinging to a cow's tail,°picking 

 insects from it as far down even as its extremity. 



]\Ir. Hill states tliat these birds are downward, not upward, climbers. 

 They enter a tree by alighting on the extremity of some main branch, and 

 reach cs centre by creeping along tlie stem, and seldom penetrate far anion" 

 tiie leaves. ° 



The eggs of this species are of a regularly oval shape, equally obtuse at 

 either end. In color tiiey are of a uniform light-blue, with a very slight 

 tinge of green. Tliis is usually covered, but not entirely concealed, by a 

 wlute cretaceous coating. Wlien fresh, this may readily be rubbed off, but 

 becomes hard and not easily removed. The eggs vary in size from 1.40 to 

 1.50 inches in length, and in breadth from 1.10 to l.lu inches. 



