16 Scientific Society of San Antonio. 



sects, young rats and mice, etc. It roams all over the Texas 

 plains, and wherever the hunter goes, in hilly regions as well 

 as valleys, in forests, pastures, chaparral or in prairie regions 

 devoid of chaparral — everywhere, it seems, this unique bird of 

 prey is encountered — in particular, though, in dense chaparral 

 and hilly regions, and along the roadsides ; therefore its name, 

 chaparral cock, or road runner. In droughty seasons it un- 

 doubtedly destroys numerous snakes and other varmints, 

 besides lizards, .which are its principal food. Its speed is 

 so great that it takes a good horse to keep up with a chaparral 

 cock when running along the prairie roads and trails, and gen- 

 erally this bird gets easily out of sight by dashing into the dense 

 chaparral or flying swiftly along a hillside up into a tree. It 

 rarely flies, though, and only a short distance above ground, in 

 a straight line; or it jumps upon the nearest branch of a 

 bush or tree, and quickly hops further and further until it is 

 seen high up in a tree. I have thus seen them often in moun- 

 tainous regions far up on a high tree above rocky cliffs, and it 

 is a beautiful sight to see the bird thus high up with its long 

 neck erect and perhaps a younk snake or lizard in its beak. 



The chaparral cock should be protected by all means, as it 

 destroys a vast number of varmints. Some foolish hunters, es- 

 pecially boys, shoot them — "merely to have something to 

 shoot at," when the bird is left on the prairie to be devoured 

 by buzzards, hawks, or cayotes. There is absolutely no 

 reason for shooting these, as well as so many other useful birds, 

 inasmuch as the meat is said to be very tough and not in any 

 way palatable as is the case with game birds. 



The chaparral cock prepares its nest in some dense thicket, 

 usually in a persimmon tree, in the midst of the chaparral, con- 

 sisting chiefly of dry branches of mesquite and other woods, the 

 inside of the nest being only sparingly lined, covered with dry 

 grass and sometimes with moss, cotton, etc. The nest is usually 

 built only a few feet above ground, the female laying a num- 

 ber, perhaps eight to ten white eggs, about one-half the size 

 of a chicken egg. The young are covered for a long time 

 with furlike feathers, and they are nourished with all kinds of 

 insects, especially grasshoppers, beetles or lizards, young snakes 

 and mice. Quite soon these young leave the nest, when they 

 also are endowed already with quick speed in running. They 



