THE HAWK EYE ORNITHOLOGIST AND 00 LO GIST. 



85 



feet in moving about, whether feeding or 

 playing with his mate. The movements are 

 executed with great regularity and precision, 

 and under all cases appear to be the result 

 of mature deliberation. Our Robin does 

 not hop, or jump — which ever you please — 

 until he has thoroughly considered it. You 

 see him standing pi oudly on a tussock, or 

 dead fallen limb, his form is erect, his head 

 well up, and the broad, beautiful breast 

 strained out in front. In this position he 

 frequently stands five minutes; and then, 

 with his cheery chirp, uttered a few times, 

 he lowers his head somewhat, directs it 

 toward a point (e 1 feet or more away, and 

 hop— hop-hop he goes toward it. These 

 hops are almost invariably in a straight line, 

 and I doubt if the hopper could turn aside 

 until the last hop had occurred. I have seen 

 the attempt made, and a sorry effort it was, 

 much like the attempt of a drunkard to 

 suddenly turn about; the bird wobbled 

 about and nearly fell. In almost every 

 case, the Robin hops his two, three, or up to 

 ten hops, in a direct line; and tlien it is a 

 common thing for him to jig back on id- 

 most the same course, or off at right angles. 

 In this way we have seen them tack, about 

 a lawn, recently freshened by an April 

 shower, until almost every part had been 

 covered and few, if any, earth-worms were 

 left exposed. It is interesting to note an 

 occasional sudden stop made by Robin, 

 while he is on one* of his five or six hops; 

 he fairly tumbles over on his head in his ef- 

 fort to suddenly seize a worm while hopping. 

 In these attempts he usually takes a step or 

 two with each foot sepaiately, not hopping 

 as is his usually wont. However, the Ro'biu, 

 and all the other thrushes are like him, is 

 very undignified in his manner of getting 

 over the ground; and if he were not an old 

 acquaintance, we would laugh at his odd 

 movements.' The Robin usually hops a dis- 

 tance of a foot or fifteen inches at each at- 



tempt, and generally makes a distance of 

 eight to twelve feet before discontinuing 

 his movements; whereupon he looks about 

 for worms or food, and again hops. In the 

 trees the Robin often performs the same 

 movements, when the limbs and twigs are 

 placed to his liking. When the limbs are 

 rather too far apart, he often spreads his 

 wings, and occasionally striking his feet, 

 looks as if he were half flying, half hopping, 

 which is the case. The Catbird and Brown 

 Thrush also have this habit. The Thrasher 

 is a strong hopper and frequently makes 

 jumps of two feet or more, but his jumps 

 rarely number over three or four in success- 

 ion. He is a very accurate jumper, much 

 more so than the Robin. We have seen a 

 Brown Thrush repeatedly leap through a 

 small space scarcely large enough to admit 

 his body. It is amusing to see one jump 

 between the rails of a fence, with the long 

 tail streaming after. The Hermit and Wil- 

 son's Thrushes are also hoppers; in fact, we 

 have never seen a member of this family 

 walk or even use their feet separately, ex- 

 cept in feeding, rarely, and in covering 

 their nests or young, when they stand first 

 on one foot — then on the other, before 

 setting. 



The Bluebird is a hopper also, but will 

 frequently take a few steps when crowded; 

 and often clings to the excavation entrance 

 in which is his nest, first with one foot — 

 then with the other, meantime fluttering his 

 wings and gratifying us with his delightful 

 warble. He is not nearly so much of a 

 ground bird as the Thrushes, and secures 

 much of his prey from dead limbs and 

 stumps, or even picking it from the ground 

 as he hovers just above it, without touching 

 his feet. 



[The above article was read before 

 the R O. C. at Chicago; and would have 

 been published in their Bulletin had not 

 the Club been discontinued.] 



[to be continued.] 



