182 LAND BIRDS 
tired, or if he sees that you are gaining on him, he 
dodges into the roadside thicket, stopping so suddenly 
as to go heels (or rather ¢az/) over head. It is a unique 
performance, and one never becomes quite used to it. 
Few birds are more interesting to study, or better 
repay observation. The Road-runners are common resi- 
dents of the valleys and desert regions of California, 
from the Mexican border north to Sacramento valley. 
In the southern part of the State and in Mexico they 
are occasionally found at an altitude of five thousand 
feet, but they prefer the lower range of the cactus- 
covered plains and foot-hills. 
Their food consists of insects, land crustacea, small 
reptiles of all varieties, young birds, and_ field-mice. 
They are popularly believed to destroy rattlesnakes, but 
Mr. Bendire denies this. At the same time he reports 
having found a garter-snake twenty inches long in the 
crop of one of them. A Road-runner killed by Mr. 
Anthony had just swallowed a large lizard. Un- 
doubtedly its fondness for lizard diet has given it one of 
its many nicknames. 
In habits, the Road-runners are shy, suspicious, and 
unsocial. Except during the breeding season, I have 
rarely seen more than one in a neighborhood. Just 
before rearing their brood, and for some time after, they 
feed and roost in pairs. In the choice of nesting site 
and material they are capricious. Of several nests ex- 
amined, no two were alike. One found in May was in 
a manzanita bush about four feet from the ground, was 
lined with rootlets and a few feathers, and contained 
Se 
