50 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



stomach and lo, thumbs turn down, another name goes on the black 

 list, and the roadrunner's doom is sealed. In many a southwestern 

 State there have been chaparral-cock drives and contests, bounty on 

 roadrunners, newspaper stories and editorials defaming the bird. 

 Too, there are those who eat roadrunners, or who chase and shoot 

 them for "sport." In populated sections the roadrunner has a hard 

 time. Where man appears the roadrunner all too frequently dis- 

 appears. 



Certain predatory birds and mammals doubtless prey occasionally 

 on the roadrunner, though adult birds usually are swift or wary 

 enough to evade such enemies as coyotes and hawks. Crows and 

 ravens doubtless eat some roadrunner eggs and young. Even the 

 snakes themselves may take a hand in keeping the snake killer 

 tribe from becoming too numerous. Remains of a roadrunner were 

 found in the stomach of a red-tailed hawk collected by Dr. Josselyn 

 Van Tyne in Brewster County, Tex., February 28, 1935 (Van Tyne 

 and Sutton, 1937). 



W. L. McAtee (1931) in his timely "Little Essay on Vermin" so 

 justly states the case of roadrunner versus mankind that his com- 

 ments are of special significance here : 



The Road-ruuner is persecuted almost throughout its range * * * as 

 an alleged destroyer of Quail eggs, and state bounties are even paid for its 

 destruction. Yet the Road-runner never has been shown to be a special enemy 

 of Quail, and it cannot cat their eggs except during a brief season. The 

 Road-runner is as nearly omnivorous as any of our birds, eating anything in 

 its habitat that is readily available and swallowable. No doubt it will eat 

 Quail eggs, but it is equally certain that not one meal in a thousand of all 

 the birds at all times consists of Quail eggs. 



The Road-runner actually lives up to its repute of killing rattlesnakes; 

 without doubt, it eats more scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas * * * 

 than it does Quail eggs, and it is a voracious consumer of grasshoppers. It is 

 a unique bird, not only in our fauna but in that of the world, has extremely 

 interesting habits, and in its choice of food in the long run undoubtedly does 

 more good than harm. Its persecution is all but baseless and is thoroughly 

 unjustified. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southwestern United States south to central Mexico. 



The range of the roadrunner extends north to north-central Cali- 

 fornia (Navarro River, Owens River, and Death Valley) ; Colorado 

 (Meeker, Canon City, and Las Animas) ; and southern Kansas (prob- 

 ably Caldwell and Arkansas City). East to Kansas (Arkansas 

 City) ; central Oklahoma (Norman) ; Texas (Fort Worth, Kerrville, 

 and San Antonio) ; Tamaulipas (Matamoras, Soto La Marina, and 

 Tampico) ; and Pueblo (San Salvador). South to Puebla (San Sal- 

 vador) ; Mexico (Tenango) ; and Jalisco (Zapotlan). West to Jalisco 

 (Zapotlan) ; Baja California (Cape San Lucas, San Cristobal Bay, 



