60 Andrew Fackson Grayson. | ZOE 
flycatcher does an insect. As soon as the sparrow was completely 
dead it would then pick out the wing and tail feathers and swallow 
it entire, head foremost; all its food is swallowed entire with consid- 
erable voracity. Although I gave him lizards he did not seem to 
care for them, and it is probable they are only resorted to in cases 
of extreme hunger. Grasshoppers appear to be its principal food, 
together with insects.* It doubtless devours both field mice and 
small birds, when such objects are attainable. 
During the time I possessed the one mentioned above, I turned 
loose in his inclosure a pair of quail and a sharp-shinned hawk 
(A. fuscus) for his companions, but this intrusion only made him 
restless and unhappy, and he exhibited extreme fear of the hawk. 
The little hawk in a few days attacked and dispatched the quail; 
at the sight of which the road-runner showed renewed symptoms 
of fear and distress, frequently uttering a harsh note of anger not 
unlike the sudden twirl of a rattle. The little hawk often made 
darts at him, but he evaded its sharp claws by his activity. I believe, 
however, the hawk would have eventually conquered and killed him 
had I not removed the former from the cage. 
Strange and to me seemingly fabulous stories are told by the 
native Californians of the road-runner’s peculiar ingenuity in 
destroying the rattlesnake, and I was informed by a respectable 
native gentleman of that State that he witnessed the feat himself. 
It is said that when the road-runner finds a rattlesnake coiled — 
and asleep, it corrals him or builds a fence around him of the cactus 
burrs with their innumerable sharp spines. After completing the 
corral it then commences to tease and worry the snake by darting 
at and pecking it with its stout bill. The snake in endeavoring to 
extricate himself from his thorny inclosure finds himself pricked on 
every side by the sharp spines of the cactus, and, tantalized by the 
bird, becomes infuriated, bites himself and dies. This I do not 
vouch for. 
Although the road-runner has no song, yet it is not entirely 
without a peculiar hoarse cooing note during the love season, which 
is uttered at intervals, something like that ot the Yellow-billed _ 
» but deeper toned, as ho-o—ho-o-ho-o- iy 
ho-o-. I was first attracted by this sound in April, 1864, inthe — 
cuckoo (C. americana) 
* The stomachs of all those dissected by me contained exclusively grasshoppers. re 
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