The Road Runner {Geococcyx caUfomianus) 



Length, 20 to 24 inches, mostly tail. Quite unlike any other North American 

 bird in form and color. 



Range: From the upper Sacramento Valley south through California and 

 the peninsula and from Colorado, Kansas, middle and western Texas, Arizona 

 and New Mexico southward ; resident. 



The name "road runner" when appHed to a cuckoo may seem an anomaly 

 to those who may know only our eastern cuckoos, but in truth the road runner is 

 anomalous in many ways. It is distinguished by curiously marked plumage, the 

 possession of a long bill and a disproportionally long tail. As a result of its 

 strange appearance, and stranger antics, the road runner is made the hero of 

 many a fable. Among other wonders it is claimed that it can outrun the swiftest 

 horse and kill the biggest rattlesnake. It is said to accomplish the latter feat by 

 surrounding the reptile while asleep with a rampart of cactus spines on which 

 the enraged reptile accommodatingly impales itself. 



The truth is that when in a hurry this ground cuckoo can run with great 

 speed, though as yet no official record of its best time has been made. Its food 

 consists of a great variety of harmful insects, among which the snout beetles or 

 weevils are conspicuous. It devours also mice, horned lizards, centipedes, land 

 shells and small snakes ; probably a young rattlesnake would fare no better than 

 any other small snake. Its notes are difficult to interpret with words, but are 

 not likely to be forgotten when once heard, and they are frequently uttered in 

 the early morning from the topmost bough of a mesquite or other tree. 



The Arkansas Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) 



Length, 9 inches. The white edge of the feather on each side of the tail 

 distinguishes this from all other flycatchers except the gray and salmon-colored 

 scissortail of Texas. 



Range : Breeds from Minnesota, Kansas, and Texas to the Pacific Ocean 

 and from northern Mexico to southern Canada; winters from Mexico to Guate- 

 mala. 



Habits and economic status: The Arkansas kingbird is not so domestic as 

 its eastern relative and seems to prefer the hill country with scattered oaks rather 

 than the orchard or the vicinity of ranch buildings, but it sometimes places its 

 rude and conspicuous nest in trees on village streets. The bird's yearly food is 

 composed of 87 per cent animal matter and 13 per cent vegetable. The animal 

 food is composed almost entirely of insects. Like the eastern species, it has 

 been accused of destroying honeybees to a harmful extent, and remains of honey- 

 bees were found to constitute 5 per cent of the food of the individuals examined, 

 but nearly all those eaten were drones. Biees and wasps, in general, are the 

 •biggest item of food (38 per cent), grasshoppers and crickets stand next (20 per 

 cent), and beetles, mostly of noxious species, constitute 14 per cent of the food. 



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