1916 | Bryant: Habits and Food of the Roadrunner 39 
the food of the roadrunner in California is made up of mammals. 
Three different species were found in the stomachs: a harvest mouse 
(Reithrodontomys megalotis longicaudus), a white-footed mouse 
(Peromyscus sp.), and a newly-born San Diego cottontail rabbit (Syl- 
vilagus auduboni sanctidieg?) . 
Professor F. E. L. Beal procured a roadrunner in California which 
had eaten a meadow mouse (Microtus californicus) (lantz, 1907, p. 
51.) That even larger mammals are sometimes destroyed is evidenced 
by the following observation made by A. W. Anthony (1896, pp. 
257-258) : 
This forenoon (May 7, 1896) I came suddenly upon a roadrunner (Geo- 
coccyx californianus) that had just finished dispatching a wood rat (Neotoma). 
The bird reluctantly withdrew as I came upon the scene, leaving the rat, 
which I found to be quite dead. A post-morten disclosed a bad contusion on 
the side directly over the heart, and another on the spine between the shoulders, 
while the skull was crushed by a blow behind the ear, although the skin was 
nowhere broken. 
Ze 
4 
s S5 
sco 
Text Fig. A.—Diagram showing comparative amounts of the different kinds 
of food taken by the roadrunner in California, 
