146 



THE OOLOGIST 



CALIFORNIA ROADRUNNER 



A bizarre freakish pair of birds are 

 to be seen almost daily down Arch 

 Beach way speeding along the road 

 or across the lots. Always seemingly 

 in a great hurry to get somewhere and 

 yet no place to, go. At the end of each 

 little burst of speed the long tail is 

 elevated over the hack and a crest on 

 the top of the head is momentarily 

 flasked. They rarely fly. If pushed 

 to great speed the wings are spread 

 out, the tail opened which acts appar- 

 ently as a rudder and a stop break. 

 They become actually ground planes. 

 The usual route is down the street 

 for a block or two across a stubble 

 field of several acres, over a canyon 

 and in a short time they will be seen 

 coming up the opposite side still run- 

 ning and at intervals making a dash 

 at a lizard or a grasshopper. Some- 

 times one only is to be seen, the 

 fem.nle probably incubating. When 

 the male is alone he often flies to the 

 roof of our cottage, where he will 

 make a queer chattering noise with 

 hi3 l)ill not unlike castanets. A post 

 across the ravine is a favorite perch- 

 ing place, where he will sit for awhile 

 uttering a low cooing very like that 

 of the Mourning Dove. 



These strange birds are the Cali- 

 fornia Roadrunners, scientiflc name 

 Geococcyx Californianus, known also 

 by various synonyms as Chaparral 

 Cock, Snake Killer, Lizard Birds, 

 Cock of the Desert, etc. 



The are about two feet long, one- 

 half of which is a long fowl-like tail. 

 Color above olive brown, with a green- 

 ish sheen, buffy-white below. Toes 

 two before and two behind. Nests in 

 low bushes, composed of sticks and 

 weeds, a mere platform. Lay from 

 four to ten eggs deposited at different 

 intervals. A nest may contain a fresh 

 egg, a bird just hatched and then all 

 si^es up to hg^lf grown young, the 



main food however consisting of 

 lizards and small snakes. The food 

 of the young is principally lizards, 

 which are pushed down the throat 

 with the tail hanging out and gradual- 

 ly disappearing by gulps as the body 

 is digested. 



That they are destructive to families 

 of small Quails is urged against them 

 by some and also to small birds which 

 they stalk like a cat. This latter fact 

 has been verified by the writer. One 

 day a bird was heard out in the yard 

 screaming bloody murder. On hurry- 

 ing out a runner was found making- 

 the feathers fly from a San Diego 

 Towhee. On our appearance the bird 

 was released and the runner dis- 

 appeared into the bushes. These gar- 

 ish birds are distributed throughout 

 the Southwest in the desert and plains 

 country, Colorado, Texas, Southern 

 California and Northern Mexico. 



They delight to speed up in front 

 of a fast team or galloping horse. 

 Modern horseless carriages seem to 

 give them a thrill, and they will give 

 it quite a race for a while, but on look- 

 ing back and finding the auto gaining 

 will dash down a path or shoot off 

 among the cactus and as far as the 

 eye can see will continue running at 

 top speed. 



They belong to the Cuckoo family 

 and are not far removed from the Par- 

 rots and Anis. All freakish birds. 

 They are destructive to rattlesnakes, 

 which when discovered they will 

 circle so rapidly that the reptile be- 

 comes bewildered. Then its eyes will 

 be picked out. It is also claimed that 

 that will encircle a rattler with a 

 hedge of thorns which it cannot crawl 

 over and then dispatch it at leisure. 

 We are from Missouri on this point. 



A day or two since I discovered the 

 nest of this pair of Runners at the 

 edge of the canyon near my house, 

 but the birds had departed. It was in 

 a mahogany bush, three feet from 



