Sutton, on Road-runner 
11 
went up to tliem and tliey looked as tlioiigh they would readily 
have devoured me had they been large enough to do so. Eventu- 
ally I hit upon a plan whereby I was enabled to watch these 
birds, though at considerable discomfort to myself. By striking 
the creek about half a mile above the nest, I crept down its 
banks to a little shaded bend, where from an overhanging 
bank I could look up through the brush to the nest, not very 
far distant. The Koad-rnnner in repose is a different creature 
from what one would imagine from the fleeting glimpse one 
gets of it on the run. The bird is dignifled, and the face takes 
on an almost meditative expression, especially when it is di- 
rectly at the nest. Upon one occasion I was delighted to see 
one of the adults capture one of the brown scaled swifts, {Scel- 
oporus ) which, as I attest, are very difficult indeed to catch. 
The chase up the trunk of the tree was exciting and speedy. 
But the capture of the lizard, actually in mid-air, where it 
had leaped rather than face its pursuer, was almost thrilling. 
An observer now and then gets some such dramatic glimpse if 
he be patient enough. These scaly lizards are, of course, always 
swallowed whole, and perforce head first. But where the birds 
secured all the food for their young remains a mystery, and it 
will always remain a mystery how they accomplish so nincli 
without being observed more. Never, while I was watching, did 
both birds come to the nest at once, though visits were quite 
frequent most of the time, and with widely irregular intervals 
between. The large excrements from the young birds, which 
were discharged after each feeding, were removed regularly by 
the adult birds, in the bill. This excrement was covered with a 
rather firm jelly-like substance which kept the mass intact, and 
allowed the parent to take it some distance in the mandibles 
without its breaking. There was no sign of any pellet composed 
of fur, feathers, scales or bones disgorged, and all such sub- 
stances must have been digested by the powerful gastric juices 
of the young birds. Possibly this matter will bear a good deal 
of further investigation, however, since a very large amount of 
utter Avaste matter is taken with each animal SAvalloAved whole. 
It Avill always be a source of regret that I did not see the young 
in the family under discussion as they were leaving the nest ; 
and particularly interesting would it be to watch their first 
lessons in capturing prey, but since I have assumed the role 
of a parent Road-runner to a degree, I know a little about the 
intelligence of the average baby “ Ground Cuckoo.’’ 
