Road-runner 217 



Road-runner. Oeococcyx calijornianus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 385— Colorado Records— Aiken 72, p. 206 

 Coues 73, p. 751 ; Henshaw 75, p. 383 ; Goss 78, p. 114 ; Drew 85, p. 17 

 Beckham 85, p. 143 ; Morrison 88, p. 17 ; 89, p. 67 ; Lowe 94, p. 268 

 Cooke 97, pp. 81, 207 ; Warren 06, p. 20 ; Cary 09, p. 181 ; Felger 

 10, p. 89. 



Description. — Above a n^etallic bronze, becorning steely-blue on the 

 neck and head ; all the feathers edged with white or tawny-white, pro- 

 ducing a streaked appearance ; head strongly crested ; wing more 

 greenish ; tail very strongly graduated ; the three outer pairs of 

 feathers steely-blue with a terminal band of white ; below duU whitish, 

 the feathers of the fore-neck and throat with dusky centres edged with 

 tawny ; iris red, bill and legs dark horny, a bare space round the eye 

 pale fleshy, eyelids blue. Length 20-5 ; wing 7-75 ; tail 12-0 ; culmen 

 2-1 ; tarsus 2-4, 



The sexes are aUke, and the young bird is very similar — iridescent 

 from the first, but with more white and less tawny. 



Distribution. — South-west United States, from California and Colorado 

 south to Mexico, east to south-west Kansas and Oklahoma. 



The Road-runner is a faii-ly common resident in Colorado along and 

 south of the Arkansas Valley. North of this it is rare, but has been met 

 with on several occasions in El Paso co., by Aiken and others, while 

 Cooke states that Carter once observed it at Littleton just south of 

 Denver, and Felger has recently recorded it fron^ Denver itself ; this is 

 the most northern record. Others are : Las Animas (Goss), Fort Lyon 

 (Coues), Gamne's Ranche (Warren and Cary), Wet Mountains at 8,000 

 feet (Lowe), Trinchera (Brunner) and La Plata co. (Morrison). It 

 keeps chiefly to the lower altitudes of the cedar and pinon zone, and 

 has not been met with above 8,000 feet (Lowe). 



Habits. — ^This ground-loving Cuckoo, often known as 

 the Chaparral Cock and by the Mexicans as the Paisano, 

 is a bird of remarkable aspect, and reminds one more of 

 a small hen Pheasant than of a Cuckoo. It is thoroughly 

 terrestrial and a great runner, and is said to be able 

 to outstrip a galloping horse, aided by its wings out- 

 stretched as supporters. It also flies well. 



The Road-runner is rather unsocial, and only one 

 or two are to be met with together ; it prefers bushy 

 hill-sides and scrub-oak, seldom or never entering pine 

 woods. Its note is compared by Bendire to the cooing 



