48 University of California Publications in Zoology [ Vou. 17 
of cultivated crops as do those birds with granivorous and frugivorous 
habits. On the contrary, a study of its food habits shows that the 
roadrunner feeds upon the insect and rodent pests which attack cul- 
tivated crops, and furthermore that it destroys hairy caterpillars, a 
pest not commonly attacked by other birds. 
As shown by this investigation, the food habits of the roadrunner 
in California do not prove the bird to be harmful to any great extent. 
Instead, it has been clearly shown that the benefits conferred through 
the destruction of injurious insects and small rodents, though not 
great, outweigh in value the harm done through the destruction of 
lizards and birds. In fact, the destruction of a roadrunner can be 
justified only under exceptional circumstances, and certainly the 
wholesale destruction of the species because of its supposed habit of 
destroying the eggs and young of quail is unwarranted. It is to the 
interest of every citizen of the state to protect carefully this most 
curious and interesting bird. 
Transmitted March 22, 1916. 
LITERATURE CITED 
ANTHONY, A. W. 
1896. The roadrunner as a rat-killer. Auk, 13, 257-258. 
1897. The roadrunner as a destroyer of caterpillars. Auk, 14, 217. 
BaiLey, F. M. 
1902. Handbook of birds of the Western United States (Houghton-Mifflin 
Co., N. Y.), xe +514, 36 pls., 601 figs. in text. 
Bairp, S. F., BREwrr, T. M., and Ripeway, R. 
1874. A history of North American birds. Land birds (Little, Brown & 
Co., Boston), 2, 590+vi, pls. 27-56, many figs. in text. 
BELDING, L. 
1879. A partial list of the birds of central California. Proce. U. S. Nat. 
Mus, 1, 388-449. 
1890. Land birds of the Pacific district. Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. Sci., 2, 
1-274. 
BENDIRE, C. 
1878. Breeding habits of Geococcyx californianus. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 
3, 39. 
1895. lLife-histories of North American birds. Smithson. Inst. Contrib. 
Knowl., 32, ix + 518, 7 pls. 
BREWSTER, W. 
1883. On a collection of birds lately made by Mr. F. Stephens in Arizona. 
Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 8, 21-36. 
BRYANT, H. C. 
1914. A determination of the economic status of the western meadow- 
lark (Sturnella neglecta) in California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., 
11, pp. 377-510, pls. 21-24, 5 figs. in text. 
