18 The Hawkey e 0. and 0. 



egg laid. Some of them were of a clear blue color, while others 

 were covered with a white calcareous deposit. Average size 

 about i.28x.90.' 



The birds are very slovenly inclined, and have the peculiar 

 habit of uttering their loud "Chow-Chow's" or "Coo-Coo's"- 

 while sitting on the nest, thus making it not a difficult task for 

 the collector to find it. The nest, if so it can be called, is a very 

 slight structure of dead sticks loosely laid to-gether with a little 

 green moss in the center, and so frail that a brisk raiu or sharp 

 wind will overturn the whole affair. 



They have three striking features, viz.: a snow-white breast, a 

 long, graceful tail sloping downward, and a sharp, snake-like head, 

 in all, giving it the appearance of a very handsome bird. 



It is a very cowardly bird, and seems to be a particular enemy 

 of the Blue-giey Nuthatch (Polioptila ocerulea.) I have often 

 seen a pair of these tiny little birds chasiug a pair of the Cuck- 

 oo's around the tree-tops and punishing them severely in spite of 

 their diminutive size. 



The Rain Crow, as it is c miminly called, arrives her&in May, 

 and spends the Summer with us. 



THE CALIFORNIA. ROAD RUNNER. 



BY AMALGAM. 



This strange and rare bird, peculiar to California and some 

 portions of Mexico, is sometimes called the Ground Cuckoo, to 

 which family it belongs. At first sight it might be supposed to 

 be a new kind of pheasant, so striking is the resemblance in color 

 and pattern of the plumage to that genus; but upon closer exam- 

 ation it is soon discovered to be unlike it in every particular. 

 Owing to its exceeding shyness and uncommon scarcity, there is 

 probably less known about this singular bird than almost any 

 other. The late Mr. Grayson, a loving student of ornithology, 

 succeeded in catching r unobserved, the expression of eye and at- 

 titude of this bird just when preparing to spring, and the sketch 

 shown me was the finest I have ever seen. 



The following are from the late Mr. Grayson's notes: 

 "So far as I am acquainted, the Road Runner, or as it is called 

 in Spanish, Curier del Gamini or Prsano, has not been described 

 by any ornithologist. It is a distinct and isolated species from 



