1916] Bryant: Habits and Food of the Roadrunner 31 
rodents down to tiny insects, appears to be relished by this bird. 
Although the stomachs examined showed no large percentage of verte- 
brates, other published records show that reptiles sometimes form a 
large part, if not the entire diet. Even these larger elements of food 
are usually swallowed whole at one gulp. That the digestive appa- 
ratus is powerful is evidenced by the fact that bone, hair, and feathers 
pass through the digestive tract, and are not thrown back out through 
the mouth in the form of pellets as is the ease with some hawks 
and most owls. 
Beetles—Beetles form next to the largest percentage of the animal 
food of the roadrunner. Over 18 per cent (18.20 per cent) of all the 
food of the roadrunners examined was made up of beetles of different 
sorts. Since this bird is a ground-loving species, ground beetles of 
various sorts are most often taken, more than sixty having been found 
in a single stomach (see pl. 4, fig. 4). Such injurious beetles as the 
click-beetles and wood-borers were also found in numbers in the 
stomachs. Beetles are apparently taken in largest quantity during 
the winter months, a total of eighty-eight having been found in the 
food of fifteen birds during November, December, and January, as 
against seventy-five in that of the same number of birds during June, 
July, and August (see table 1). The following species of Coleoptera 
were identified : 
BEETLES (Coleoptera) 
Amara californica Dej. Coniontis sp. 
Amara insignis Dej. Coniontis elliptica (Casey) 
Amara sp. Silpha ramosa Say 
Eleodes sp. Scyphophorus yuccae Horn. 
Lixus sp. (near pleuralis Rhynchitidae 
Le Conte) Anisodactylus dilatatus De}. 
Lixus sp. Crossidius intermedius Ulke 
Eleodes acuticauda Le Conte Epicauda puneticollis Mann. 
Miecroschatia inaequalis Le (?) Pterostichus sp. 
Conte Asida sp. 
Centrocleonus pilosus Le Conte Sphenophorus sp. 
Grasshoppers and crickets——About one-third of the animal food 
and almost one-fourth of the total food for the year was found to 
be made up of grasshoppers (21.2 per cent). In addition, black 
crickets (Gryllus sp.) made up 12.62 per cent and Jerusalem crickets 
(Stenopelmatus) an additional 3 per cent, making Orthoptera a total 
‘of 36.82 per cent of the food. Grasshoppers and crickets were taken 
at all times of the year, but were most evident in the diet during 
