"Its general habits," says Major Chas. Bendire, "are far more terrestrial 

 than arboreal, spending much of its time on the ground in search of food, and 

 frequenting the drier desert tracts, adjacent to river valleys, and the lower foot- 

 hills, covered by cactus, yuccas, and thorny undergrowth." It is rarely met in the 

 mountains. 



In southern Texas it is called by the people the Chaparral Cock, as it invariably 

 frequents places where dense thorny bushes, cacti, yuccas, agaves, dasylirions, nolinas 

 etc. abound and where rattle-snakes are numerous. It is not a sociable bird, and usually 

 only the pair, or later in the season, the old and young ones are seen togethers "The 

 food consists almost entirely of animal matter, such as grasshoppers, beetles, lizards, 

 small snakes, land sliails, the smaller rodents, and not unfrequently of young birds. On 

 the whole these birds do far more good than harm. When the fig-like fruit of the giant 

 cactus is ripe, they also feed on this. ... It is astonishing how large an animal can be 

 swallowed by one of these birds. I have found a species of garter snake fully twenty 

 inches long in the crop of one." 



"Road-runners are ordinarily rather shy and suspicious birds, and not as often 

 seen as one would think, even where comparatively common. Within the United States 

 they are most abundant along the southern borders of Texas and Arizona, and in 

 southern California. I found them quite common in the vicinity of my Camp on Rillito 

 Creek, near Tucson, Arizona, and also near Annaheim, Orange Co. Cal., and I have 

 examined about twenty of their nests. Notwithstanding their natural shyness, they are 

 inquisitive birds, and where they are not constantly chased and molested w^ill soon 

 become used to man. One of these birds paid frequent visits to my camp, often perch- 

 ing on a mesquite stump for half an hour at a time, within twenty yards of my tent. 

 While so perched it would usually keep up a continuous cooing, not unlike that of the 

 Mourning Dove, varied now and then by a cackle resembling that of a domestic hen 

 when calling her brood's attention to some choice morsel of food. This call sounded 

 like 'duck, dock, duck', a number of times repeated. Another peculiar sound was some- 

 times produced by snapping its mandibles rapidly together. While uttering these notes 

 its long tail was almost constantly in motion and partly expanded, and its short wings 

 slightly drooped. In walking about at ease, the tail is somewhat raised and the neck 

 partly contracted. When suddenly alarmed the feathers of the body are compressed and 

 it trusts almost entirely to its legs for escape, running surprisingly fast. While running 

 it can readily keep out of the way of a horse on fair gallop on comparatively open 

 ground, and should the pursuer gain too much on the bird, it suddenly doubles on its 

 course and takes advantage of any thickets or broken ground in the vicinity, and is 

 soon lost to sight. Its flight is comparatively easy and, considering its short wings, is 

 rather swift." (Bendire). 



It begins nesting as early as the middle of March. The nest is usually placed in 

 low mesquite trees, thick bushes, and in different species of cacti, such as the prickly 

 pear, cholla and others. It is a flat and shallow structure made of sticks and lined with 

 dry grasses. Sometimes dry cow and horse dung, a few feathers, pieces of snake skin, 

 rootels are found in the lining. The number of eggs varies between two and nine and 

 occasionally as many as twelve have been found. They are white in color and unspotted, 



