_Land Kick-up._
_Seiurus aurocapillus._
_Turdus aurocapillus_, +Linn.+—Aud. pl. 143.
_Sylvia aurocapilla_, +Bonap.+
_Seiurus aurocapillus_, +Sw.+
[34] Length 6¹⁄₄ inches, expanse 9¹⁄₂, flexure 3, tail 2¹⁄₁₀,
rictus ⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus 1, middle toe ³⁄₄.
The speckled breast, rich fulvous crown, and warm olive back, make this
a very pretty bird. His manners are much like those of his cousin
Bessy, running along with much wagging of the tail, and chirping _tsip,
tsip_, incessantly. He is, however, less aquatic in his predilections.
I first observed the species about the middle of September; it was
on a low part of the road by the side of a morass. Its attitude
struck me, as it was running on the ground with the tail held almost
perpendicularly upwards. In the stomach, a muscular gizzard, I have
occasionally found _various seeds_, gravel, mud-insects, caterpillars,
and small turbinate shells. I was one day amused by watching two,
unassociated, walking about a place covered with dry leaves, beneath
some trees. I was unseen by them, though quite close. The tail of
each was carried quite perpendicular as they walked, which gave a
most grotesque effect; but, as if this elevation were not sufficient,
at almost every step they jerked it up still higher, the white
under-coverts projecting in a puffy globose form.
Though this species arrives in Jamaica rather later than the preceding,
they depart together, about the 20th of April: and soon after this
their appearance in the United States is recorded. Unlike the
preceding, the present species is said to be, even in summer, destitute
of song.