Sutton, on Road-runner 
13 
been properly administered. The white hairs, each of which 
marks a coming feather, all lie in rows and look as if they had 
been rndely combed into place. The rather large, pale bine-gray 
feet are strong in the toes, bnt very weak at the heel, so that 
the birds cling to the fingers or the twigs of their nest with 
some power, bnt are quite unable to rise. Whenever there 
were many young birds in the nest they presented a peculiarly 
scrambled appearance, due, I believe, to the constant disturbance 
at feeding time more than to restlessness, for they usually lie 
quite still. By May 1 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 able to walk about 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. 
This opinion seems the more plausible when it is known that 
my notes show no record of a young Road-runner encountered on 
the ground, though they certainly spend some of their time 
there, as they gradually become accustomed to it. On May 5th 
I took careful note of the young birds’ plumage. The white 
hair-tips of the feathers had left the flanks, tail, primaries, and 
most of the scapulars, in succession. These tips apparently leave 
the region of the head last of all, and a well developed bird, 
with tail seven and one-half inches long, taken on May 26 
(10395, Col. Carnegie Mus.) still has the little white tips on a 
large percentage of the crest feathers, though these tips in this 
case are much worn and are disappearing rapidly. My notes, 
written on May 5, state that the tibise were quite bare of feathers, 
but since none of my sketches show this to be the case, I am 
inclined to doubt the accuracy of the written observation; bnt 
the tibiae are not well feathered in the younger birds. When 
the immature bird’s tail becomes fairly long the bird assumes 
almost every aspect and habit of the adult. Strength comes to 
the legs; the rolling of the mandibles takes on the sharp, clack- 
ing quality; the eyes become brilliant and more serpentine than 
ever; and the wings are able to be used somewhat in sailing 
