BIRDS. 



537 



them complain about the competition with the pauper labor of Europe 

 Perhaps they don't dare to; for they are about the most cowardly of all 

 our birds, a robin or a sparrow putting them to flight. 



A fourth species in the United States is the road-runner, chapparal-cock, 

 or ground-cuckoo, which reaches from Texas to southern California, and 

 south into Mexico. It is a queer-looking bird, quick and active in its 



ks N^T-kd^x^^ 







Fig. 442. — Chapparal-cock, or road-runner (Geococcyx calif ornianus). 



movements, and delighting in the mountainous and desert regions, or in 

 those where the vegetation is scrubby and consists largely of cactus. A 

 road or path has peculiar attractions for it, and it will run rapidly along 

 on it, hunting for insects, lizards, and other articles of food. It is said 

 that it sometimes kills and eats rattlesnakes, but this is doubtful. 



The ani, or savanna blackbird, is just entitled to be called an inhabi- 

 tant of the United States, as it enters Florida. It is, however, seen at its 



