1916] Bryant: Habits and Food of the Roadrunner 37 
that the throat of the bird must have power of expansion similar to 
that exhibited by snakes. 
The finding of a piece of the skin of a red-racer (Bascanian con- 
strictor frenatum) in the stomach of a roadrunner taken at Palo 
Verde, Imperial County, alone gave evidence that snakes form part. 
of the diet. Although the present investigation furnishes but little 
evidence that snakes are fed upon, yet the following records further 
establish the fact that they are sometimes taken. A roadrunner ecap- 
tured in New Mexico contained a garter snake a foot long (Bailey, 
1902, p. 195); and Bendire (1895, p. 14) records the taking of a 
garter snake twenty inches long from the stomach of a roadrunner 
secured in Arizona. Mr. E. A. Goldman reported to me that the 
stomach of a roadrunner which he secured in California contained 
several young rattlesnakes. However, the idea that the roadrunner 
is an active enemy of the rattlesnake is probably exaggerated. Rattle- 
snakes may occasionally be eaten along with other snakes, but that they 
are particularly sought out is extremely doubtful. 
In this habit of feeding upon reptiles the roadrunner is almost 
unique among birds, with perhaps the exception of certain hawks 
and owls. 
Birds.—Birds amounted to 1.7 per cent of the total food of the 
roadrunners examined. The only evidence which showed that the 
roadrunner feeds upon birds of any sort was that obtained through 
the finding of the remains of a young Anthony towhee (Pipilo crissalis 
senicula) and that of an Abert towhee (Pipilo aberti). No evidence 
is at hand to determine whether these birds were taken alive from 
the nest or secured after they had died. In the first instance the body 
had been badly mutilated and the main parts left for identification 
were the feet. The Abert towhee was taken from the stomach of 
a roadrunner secured at Palo Verde, Imperial County. In this in- 
stance the bird had been swallowed whole. 
W. K. Fisher (1904, p. 80) states that an assistant of Professor 
Leroy Abrams of the department of botany, Stanford University, 
observed a roadrunner remove from a nest a young mockingbird and 
devour it. Anthony (in Bendire, 1895, p. 14) says: ‘‘I know of 
several instances of roadrunners making a meal of a nest of young 
house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis) and other small 
birds.’’ Beyond these instances we have no further information as 
to the bird-eating habit among roadrunners, except the fact that birds 
in captivity readily devour young sparrows or other birds furnished 
