Question about the meaning of あるく in this sentence

Question

I don't understand the usage of あるく in this sentence:

おれはあさっての朝早く、鳥のうちを一軒ずつまわって、お前が来たかどうかを聞いてあるく。

As I read it, it's "On the morning of the day after tomorrow, I will visit the birds' houses one at a time and ask whether or not you came there."

The 聞いてあるく is throwing me. Why is あるく linked to 聞く's continuative form and what does あるく ("to walk") mean in this context?
My first guess was "to ask while I walk".
However, "I will visit the birds' houses one at a time and ask as I walk whether or not you came there" seems redundant.

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On a side note, I really hate to keep flooding Stack Exchange with minor translation questions like this. Could anyone recommend a forum where this sort of thing is more in line with the site's purpose?

Answer 1

「聞いてあるく」

In this context, 「あるく」 does not necessarily mean "to walk", which makes your question a far better one than you seem to think.

The speaker might use other methods of transportation besides walking in order to conduct his investigation. Thus, 「あるく」 here is quite synonymous to 「まわる」 ("to go around").

In fact, 広辞苑{こうじえん} gives the following definition for 「歩{ある}く」:

”②あちこち移動{いどう}する。徒歩{とほ}または乗物{のりもの}で動{うご}き回{まわ}る。”

Thus, if I said 「ホットドッグが大好{だいす}きで、アメリカ中{じゅう}を食{た}べあるきました。」, there is no way I could have meant that I walked from coast to coast looking for yummy hotdogs in the U.S.A. You can be sure that I flew, drove, took the Greyhound, etc.

Answer 2

聞いて歩く is meaning walking around for question . 食べ歩くis meaning walking around from some shop to other shop for eating .