382 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



" It is most usually met with upon open ground, and, as soon as it discovers the 

 presence of danger, or the intruder, instantly runs off, with remarkable fleetness, to 

 the nearest thicket or hill, where it generally escapes from its pursuers, either by con- 

 cealment, or a short flight from one hill to another. If a tree with low branches be 

 convenient it will spring into that, and, soon reaching the top, will fly off to the dis- 

 tance of an hundred yards or more. It appears to rise from the level ground with 

 much difficulty. It is very quick in its motions, active, and vigilant ; indeed, its fleet- 



FIG. 184. Geococcyx calif ornianus, road-runner, chapparal cock. 



ness enables it to elude its pursuers, although one may be mounted on a good horse, 

 or a dog may be in the train ; but this is only for a short distance, as it could soon be 

 run down by the horse or dog were not some convenient thicket or hill near, from 

 which to take its flight from the latter, or conceal itself among the branches of the 

 former." 



Capt. Charles Bendire, in 1872, collected some twenty nests of the 'chapparal 

 cock,' as the road-runner is often called, " the first nest on April 8, the last on Sep- 

 tember 10. During the month of April, in which I found several nests, not one con- 



