FAMILY CuculidcB 



California, Nevada and Kansas south across 

 the tablelands of Mexico. 



The road-runner, chaparral cock, snake- 

 killer, ground cuckoo, or lizard bird is a re- 

 markable bird belonging to the cuckoo family. 

 It is generally resident and breeds wherever 

 found, except in the extreme northern parts of 

 its range. It spends most of its time on the 

 ground in search of food, and it frequents the 

 drier desert tracts along river valleys and low 

 foothills covered by cactus, yuccas and thorny 

 underbrush. Its food consists almost entirely 

 of animal matter such as lizards, beetles, 

 grasshoppers, small snakes, the smaller 

 rodents and sometimes young birds. The 

 road-runner builds its nest in April; a large 

 flat structure about twelve inches in diameter 

 and six inches deep, made of sticks lined 

 with grass, feathers, bark, snake skins and 

 roots. The nest is placed variously in mes- 

 quite, cactus and other thorny brush that may 

 be available. Road-runners are rather shy 

 and suspicious birds and may not often be seen 

 even where comparatively common. They 

 are rarely seen in large numbers, one or two 

 pairs with their young being the usual num- 

 ber found together at any one time. 



The road-runner has an interesting number 

 of call notes, one of which sounds like the 

 162 



