6 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



In the picturesque old days of California, when 

 tourists were frequently driven over country 

 roads in tallyho coaches, it was no uncommon 

 sight to see this bird ; his way of running a half- 

 mile or so in front of the fast trotting horses was 

 long remembered by the sight-seers who never 

 tired of telling about their introduction to the 

 bird racer. Another common name, "chap- 

 arral cock," is given in allusion to his living in 

 the chaparral or scrub forest of the semi- 

 deserts; and he is called "ground cuckoo" 

 because of his inability to leave the ground in 

 long-sustained flight. 



Formerly the range of the road-runner in- 

 cluded the grassy plains, chaparral-covered 

 hills, and arid mesas from Kansas to the Pacific 

 Ocean, and from Central California to Mexico. 

 With the settlement of the land and the increase 

 in the number of gunmen, this unique bird is 

 rapidly becoming rare, and the familiar Maltese- 

 cross footprints which he leaves along dusty 

 roads are seldom seen any more except in the 

 wildest portions of his former range. 



The road-runner makes no regular migrations 

 and is seldom seen except when he is alone. 



