PARROTS, KINGFISHERS, AND FLYCATCHERS 



il3 



This strange cuckoo is so entirely ter- 

 restrial that ordinarily it prefers to run and 

 hide rather than take to its wings, though 

 when under the necessity it flies with ease. 

 In the days of horse travel, road-runners 

 delighted in appearing in the trail ahead to 

 run easily with head low and tail straight 

 behind, readily keeping in front. Finally, 

 tired of the game, they would dash aside 

 and suddenly elevate tail and crest. The 

 light eyes and strange attitude at such times 

 gave the bird a grotesque appearance. 



The road-runner is primarily an animal 

 feeder, preferring lizards and large insects, 

 which it seizes with its strong bill most 

 expertly. It is not above taking an occa- 

 sional young bird from the families of its 

 neighbors, but the damage that it does in 

 this direction is considered slight. 



Many tales are current of the enmity of 

 the road-runner for the rattlesnake. Ac- 

 cording to these stories, the astute bird 

 builds a hedge of thorn-covered cactus pads 

 about coiled rattlesnakes, even those of the 

 largest size, to preclude all possibility of 

 escape, and teases the reptile until it leaves 

 the security of its coils; the snake is then 

 dispatched by blows from the sharp bill. 



It is to be feared that these stories are 

 more intriguing than true, though it is cer- 

 tain that the road-runner will kill and eat 

 small snakes of any kind (page 805). 



The nest of the road-runner is built of 

 sticks with a lining of feathers, snakeskin, 

 bark, and other soft materials. It is placed 

 in bushes or low trees, sometimes in cactus 

 plants. It holds usually from four to nine 

 white or buffy-white eggs, but as many as 

 twelve have been found in one nest. 



The road-runner is found from northern 

 California and western Kansas south into 

 central Mexico. 



Coppery-tailed Trogon 



{Trogon ambiguus ambigims) 



An exotic species that comes across the 

 southwestern border of the United States, 

 the coppery-tailed trogon, though discov- 

 ered within our limits fifty years ago, still 

 remains little known (Color Plate III). 



It has been found most often in the 

 Huachuca and Santa Catalina Mountains 

 of Arizona, where it lives among the pines 

 and oaks of remote canyons, and is known 

 also from the San Luis Mountains, New 

 Mexico, and the lower Rio Grande Valley 

 in Texas. On the wing the birds resemble 

 pigeons. 



Trogons are usually solitary. It is un- 

 usual to find more than a pair together. 

 The bird illustrated on the accompanying 

 plate is a male. In the female the head 

 and back are brown and the red of the 

 underparts is much reduced. 



It nests in cavities of trees. The three 

 or four eggs are dull white in color. 



Black-billed Cuckoo 



{Coccyziis erythropthahmis) 



On a warm September day, as I crossed 

 a field on the slopes of Whitetop Moun- 

 tain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Vir- 

 ginia, a black-billed cuckoo flew from a 

 thicket to a solitary tree (Color Plate III 

 and page 805). 



Walking up slowly, I had to look for 

 several minutes before I made out the 

 bird's slender form as it perched motion- 

 less, concealed by branches and leaves. 

 With its slim body and long tail it seemed 

 a part of the branches. 



The clucking notes of others came from 

 near-by slopes and a little farther on we 

 saw one feeding a young bird just from the 

 nest, though the summer season was ended 

 and most birds had long ago completed 

 their nesting. 



The nest is built of sticks and rootlets 

 lined with softer materials, usually at an 

 elevation of less than ten feet and, rarely, 

 on the ground itself. The eggs are plain 

 blue and number from two to six, or, rarely, 

 as many as eight. 



The black-billed cuckoo nests from 

 southeastern Alberta and Nova Scotia to 

 Kansas, and in the mountains to northern 

 Georgia. It winters in South America from 

 Colombia to Peru. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo 



{Coccyziis aviericaniis) 



A series of grating notes, half harsh and 

 half resonant, following one another in 

 definite arrangement — to most persons that 

 is the yellow-billed cuckoo (Color Plate III 

 and page 805). 



Watch closely among the leaves and pres- 

 ently you may see a slender bird with long, 

 white-spotted tail, and, as it turns its head, 

 a distinct flash of orange yellow from the 

 lower half of the bill. More often the bird 

 is merely a somewhat ghostly voice, with- 

 out definite substance, in the tree tops. 



Any farmer will tell you that the voice of 

 the "rain crow" prophesies a downpour, par- 

 ticularly when the bird is loudly vociferous. 



