14 
THE WILSON BULLETIN— March, 1922 
from a perch to the ground . By this time the bird is able to 
rim rapidly, though not with the grace and certainty of the full 
adult. In July, 1913, while hunting lizards in a small group 
of trees near Forest Park, I was surprised to find two young 
Road-runners, at about this stage of development, resting in 
the lower branches of a hackberry tree. They saw me, but 
were not much frightened, and having sailed to the ground 
started to run down the valley at a temptingly loitering gait. 
I, with my collecting box in my hand, started the chase. The 
birds kept close together, and increased their speed, just as I 
did. Tliev ran about two hundred yards, sailed across a small 
brook, which 1 waded, ran on another space, and probably would 
have got away, had they not suddenly had to climb the steep grade 
of a car-track, where, after several futile attempts, I finally cap- 
tured both of them and took them home. The birds were ex- 
ceedingly wild when put in the cage, and dashed themselves 
against the wires frantically. During the night, or possibly 
early nexf morning, they both got away, probably through the 
rather coarse meshes of the wire. They were not to my knowl- 
edge ever seen again. By the recital of this apparently easy cap- 
ture I do not wish to give the impression that one may run down 
Road-runners when lie will! Very many utter failures to catch 
them I have left untold ! 
Changes come over the fleshy parts also in the development 
of the young bird, notably in the color of the mouth, and of the 
bare portion around and back of the eyes. The mouth of the 
nestling is quite brilliant, even somewhat poisonous-looking, be- 
ing spotted and mottled in an odd design with reddish and dusky. 
These spots lose their brilliance of color as the bird ages, until 
in the adult there are only very faint indications of them re- 
maining. The bare space around the eyes, however, becomes 
gradually brighter as the bird develops, from the dull blackish of 
the nestling, through the bluish of the fledgling, to the brilliant 
blue and orange of the adult. The color of the feet remains 
approximately the same, though there is gradual upturning of 
the outermost bone of the outer hind toe, which takes place 
shortly after the bird leaves the nest. This peculiar circum- 
stance 1 cannot in any way account for. 
Bv May 10 the birds were small editions of the adults, and 
were ever active and hungry. From now on their hunting in- 
stincts came to the fore rapidly, and frequently one would be 
seen sneaking along stealthily behind a stone wall, or through 
