182 LAND BIRDS 



tired, or if he sees tliat you are gaining on him, he 

 dodges into the roadside thicket, stopping so suddenly 

 as to go heels (or rather tail) over head. It is a unique 

 performance, and one never becomes quite used to it. 



Few birds are more interesting to study, or better 

 rei^ay observation. The Road-runners are common resi- 

 dents of the valleys and desert regions of California, 

 from the Mexican border north to Sacramento valley. 

 In the southern part of the State and in Mexico they 

 are occasionally found at an altitude of five thousand 

 feet, but they prefer the lower range of the cactus- 

 covered plains and foot-hills. 



Their food consists of insects, land Crustacea, small 

 reptiles of all varieties, young birds, and field-mice. 

 They are popularly believed to destroy rattlesnakes, but 

 Mr. Bendire denies this. At the same time he reports 

 having found a garter-snake twenty inches long in the 

 crop of one of them. A Road-runner killed by Mr. 

 Anthony had just swallowed a large lizard. Un- 

 doubtedly its fondness for lizard diet has given it one of 

 its many nicknames. 



In habits, the Road-runners are shy, suspicious, and 

 unsocial. Except during the breeding season, I have 

 rarely seen more than one in a neighborhood. Just 

 before rearing their brood, and for some time after, they 

 feed and roost in pairs. In the choice of nesting site 

 and material they are capricious. Of several nests ex- 

 amined, no two were alike. One found in May was in 

 a manzanita bush about four feet from the ground, was 

 lined with rootlets and a few feathers, and contained 



