Mar., 1907 NESTING WAYS OF THE WESTERN GNXTCATCHER 51 



the station. I feel that could we have stayed one day longer we should have been 

 able to have seen these nestlings launched upon the world. However, it was of 

 value to know that their departure differed from that of most birds in that they 

 returned to the nest, so many nestlings never going back when once they have 

 left it. 



Los Aiigelcs, Califoniia. 



THE CAI.IFORNIA DISTRIBUTION OF THE ROADRUNNER (GEO- 

 COCCl'X CALJFORiXIANUS) 



BY JOSEPH GRINNEUL 



THE extremely limited powers of flight of tlie roadrunner are partly compen- 

 sated for by its pedestrial capabilities. So that the range of territory possi- 

 ble to the individual roadrunner is doubtless much greater than one might 

 at first suspect. 



Yet I consider this species to be about as permanently "resident" as any bird 

 we have. There may be a slight downward displacement on steep mountain 

 sides in winter. But even if this is homologous to migration the movement must 

 be so limited that we can safely ignore it in a distributional study. We can 

 therefore establish its breeding range as practically- coincident with its record area, 

 irrespective of the season of observation. 



On the accompanying map. I have plotted all the definite stations of occur- 

 rence on record in available ornithological literature. Many of the records pertain 

 to counties or other extended areas. For example: "thruout the region;" "all 

 along the Colorado River;" "all along the coast from Morro to Carpenteria," etc. 

 In such cases I have not set down any single station; but the region indicated is of 

 course included in the shaded area on the map. Altho this shaded area may cover 

 some small tracts where the roadrunner does not occur, such as timberlands, 

 swamps and alkali flats, I believe it fairly indicative of the roadrunner's Cali- 

 fornia range. 



The species is shy, and may not be seen for days in a region where it is known 

 to be common. There is a sure means of detecting its presence, however, wanting 

 among other birds; and this is the characteristic foot-prints in any soft ground, the 

 dustier the plainer. I have seen these unmistakable tracks (two toes forwards 

 and two backwards) during wagon trips over many parts of southern California. 

 They are all that is necessary to establish the presence of the roadrunner. 



The species is most abundant in the San Diegan District (faunal area). It is 

 none the less characteri.stic thruout the desert regions of southeastern California, tho 

 not so numerous. Its numbers become still less towards the northern limits of its 

 range. It extends sparingly a little ways into the humid coast belt of central Cali- 

 fornia. Mailliard records it as very sparingly resident in Marin County (Coxdor 

 II, May 1900, p. 63); and there is one record even beyond that, at Sebastopol in 

 Sonoma County (Belding, Eand Bds. Pac. Dist., 1890, p. 56). This is the norther- 

 most in the coast belt. But in the interior the roadrunner occurs along the foothills at 

 each side of the Sacramento Valley nearly to latitude 41 degrees, this being the 



