EOADRUNNER 47 



Before we had gone as much as a hundred yards, however, his [the road- 

 runner's] pacing routine was broken by a sudden dash from a slouchy pose and 

 the development of a brown streak across the road which ended in his emer- 

 gence on a bank beyond a parked automobile. Somewhere beneath the car he 

 had struck a full-fledged young bird (probably a "California Linnet") at full 

 speed * * *. The victim appeared to have been caught by the neck, which 

 probably accounts for the fact that it made no outcry. It must have been 

 badly stunned also by the stroke of the heavy beak because it struggled only 

 feebly. 



After becoming satisfied that I was not disposed to interfere, the captor 

 moved on to a point about 10 feet farther away. Here he hammered the hard 

 ground two or three times with the body of his victim, evidently destroying all 

 signs of life. Then he dropped it, grasped a wing near its base, and with a 

 skilful jerk stripped nearly every feather from it * * *. After stripping the 

 wing he spent three or four minutes in picking at the birdling's body with some 

 hammering and jerking mixed in. Apparently this was for the purpose of 

 getting rid of feathers. At any rate, they were thrown around profusely, and 

 the movements were different from those a little later which seemed to be 

 devoted to mauling and crushing the body into a shapeless mass. 



Finally this mass (which seemed to be about as large as the roadrunner's 

 head) was picked up with a kind of tossing motion which lauded it in the back 

 of his mouth. The first effort at swallowing, consisting of tossings of the head 

 and spasmodic movements of the jaws and throat, only resulted in getting the 

 mass started into the throat. After a short rest another series of these move- 

 ments shifted it along to a visible extent but it was not till the fourth series 

 was finished that the food appeared to have been swallowed completely. After 

 this was accomplished the bird turned toward me and slouched into a curious 

 pose of indifference mixed with satisfaction. 



A roadrunner's program is full enough with only himself to feed. 

 But when he has a nestful of hungry young he must indeed wear 

 himself ragged catching insects and lizards and snakes. These he 

 brings from near and far, going and coming in such a way as to 

 keep himself hidden. With what satisfaction must he start a foot- 

 long garter snake on its way down the gullet of one of his offspring, 

 knowing that one voice at least will be stilled so long as any of that 

 snake remains to be swallowed ! 



Many an interesting account has been written of the roadrunner's 

 foraging activities. A. Brazier Howell (1916) tells us of difficulties 

 he had in retrieving small bird specimens before roadrunners stole 

 them. He writes: 



While I was out collecting, these abundant birds would often be seen skulk- 

 ing about with eyes open for any opportunity, and it was always necessary, in 

 such cases, to make a dash for a specimen after it was shot. On two occa- 

 sions a roadrunner darted in and grabbed a bird when I had almost reached 

 it, once hopping two feet in air to nip a sparrow that had lodged in the branches 

 of a bush. At another time I was watching a small flock of sparrows as they 

 busily fed in the brush, when I noted a roadrunner stealing up like a cat, 

 taking advantage of every bit of cover. When at the proper distance, it 

 rushed out and sprang into the air at the retreating sparrows. 



