THE UOLOGIST. 



37 



had scular evidence and so declares. 

 But are not his conclusions upon the 

 second head based upon hearsaj? Now 

 we in no way attempt to refute his 

 statement touching their chicken-eating 

 pi'opensities, and it may be that we are 

 not so i-onversant with the food habits 

 of these birds as is the gentleman, but 

 we have never met with a single cir- 

 cumstance to confirm his theory. 

 When removed from the nest at an 

 early age, they may be partially do- 

 mesticated and the birds that we have 

 undertaken to "civili/e" have never 

 evinced any cravings for a tender pro- 

 spective spring chicken. So we must 

 reiterate our former statement that 

 "the principal diet of the Roadrunner 

 consists of snails with an occasional 

 small reptile," and will state in addit- 

 ion that grasshoppers are devoured by 

 them in large numbers. Even a super- 

 ficial knowledge of the nature of their 

 customary menu would persuade one 

 that they are of great economical value 

 to agricultui'e and worthy of the sedu- 

 lous protection of man. 



In March of last year another and a 

 greater vagary concerning G. califor- 

 nianiis was promulgated by a writer in 

 the Osprey Vol. I, No. 7, (A Peculiar 

 Hybrid) a fallacy which was exploded 

 in the following issue of that journal 

 when one of its editors virtually de- 

 manded evidence positive that would 

 substantiate the remarkable assertion. 

 That claim was, in brief, that cases of 

 inter-breeding between Chaparral 

 Cocks and common hens was of fre- 

 quent occurrence, a union resulting in 

 a hybrid having — to use the writer's 

 words— "the general appearance of the 

 hen, although possessing many of the 

 peculiarities of form and disposition of 

 its wild progenitor." Tis quite need- 

 less to add that the desired proof was 

 never submitted. 



The Roadrunner is but a mediocre 

 ai'chitect at best but it seems to us that 

 those resident in this section are moi*e 



careless and inartistic in nest-building 

 than those of the west. Simply an in- 

 terlaced platform of small twigs with 

 slight or no depression and might eas- 

 ily be mistaken for that of a small 

 Heron. Placed but a few feet from the 

 ground in thorny chaparral — again dis- 

 similar to the western birds (West 

 Texan we mean) who situate their nests 

 in trees at various altitudes ranging be- 

 tween 5 and 20 feet. We have taken 

 many sets of these eggs but we have 

 yet to discover a nest containing eggs 

 exceeding seven in number. 



We have observed several different 

 notes and calls of these birds but as we 

 have never yet seen in print, a really 

 intelligible spalling of bird-notes we 

 shall not attempt to so describe them. 



One, however, is strangely similar to 

 the cackle of the domestic hen, but 

 omitting the long-drawn finis. 



James J. Carroll, 

 Refugio, Texas. 



Bird Haunts, 



The owners of the land thought that 

 the new clearing was a great improve- 

 ment, but to me the freshly sawed logs 

 and endless heaps of burning brush 

 were melancholy sights, for although 

 the Vincennes University is called my 

 alma mater my real education was ac- 

 quired in those Fort Knox woods. I 

 have spent many a day there in shady 

 hollow or airy tree top studying the 

 varying aspects of nature. 



Leaving town in the early morning I 

 would soon get beyond the zone of 

 English Sparrows and reach the haunts 

 of native birds. The first of these were 

 the Blackbirds, gathering in swarms in 

 the scattered trees in the open pasture 

 and chattering noisily above the brows- 

 ing cattle. 



Farther on where the meadows were 

 swampy and almost impassible the 

 Crows called their noisy councils in an 

 isolated clump of gnarled water oaks 



