:::r.::::*; TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO B:-""- 



and falling. Now lie spied a lizard below him, slipped 

 off the stone, and dropped like a pluuiuiet upon the 

 reptile. One stroke of the bill killed his prey and then 

 the bird stood upon it, with his tail raised so high 

 that it pointed forward, like that of a wTen. The Road- 

 runner loves the desert with its hot sand, its dusty 

 cactus-pads, and its dry mesquite. No water trickles 

 there, no leaves rustle, no birds sing amid the solitude; 

 and the Roadrunner too is dumb, venting his feelings 

 only in an occasional loud Castanet clatter of his mand- 

 ibles — like the breaking of dry sticks. 



The feet of the Long-tailed Jays, with the usual 

 three toes in front and one behind, seemed perfectly 

 adapted for perching ; but when we observed the ma- 

 caw^s climbing about the branches of trees, we thought 

 how admirably the condition of two toes in front and 

 tw^o behind was adapted for climbing; but here was 

 the cuckoo as much at home in the trees as the jays, 

 and the Roadrunner, also with equally divided toes, 

 doing everything, running, leaping, climbing, and 

 perching ; so we withdrew our theories of " best 

 adaptations" in confusion. If only Nature would 

 make her lohys and wherefores more plain ! 



PARROTS AND FLYCATCHERS 



Before we had been in camp two days, a flock of 

 small parrakeets — the Red-and-blue-headed — dashed 

 past the tents and alighted near by. These little 



- ■^- 178 > 



