Sutton, on Road-runner 
15 
the weeds, stalking grasshoppers, their most formidable quarry 
thus far. I should judge, from the quantities of grasshoppers 
1 saw the birds eat, that these insects form a large part of the 
food of the adult in the wild state in this part of the State of 
Texas. They ate them literally from morning to night, and even 
after swallowing such food as mice and lizards till they should 
have been full, there was apparently always room for one more 
grasshopper. The birds first captured the nymph grasshoppers 
and the large wingless forms ( Tenaocerus ) which were very com- 
mon in the yard, and especially in the road in front of the house. 
From the very first the clicking noise of a large, green cave 
cricket (Stipator) attracted the attention of the birds, and 
whenever they heard the noise they at once lowered their heads, 
and sneaked toward it. It was some time before they succeeded 
in capturing this variety, and a still longer time till they caught 
the large, showy, yellow- and coral-winged fellows ( Pseudo - 
trimerotropis and Pardalophora) along the road. Usually the 
small grasshoppers were merely picked up and swallowed, with- 
out so much as a second pinch from the mandibles, but the 
larger long-winged varieties were beaten on a stone or on the 
ground considerably before being swallowed. It was interesting 
to watch them stalking the big flyers. Having watched a grass- 
hopper settle on the ground after a flight, the bird sneaked up 
usually from the rear, and rushing in with wings and tail spread, 
startled the grasshopper, which was thereupon captured by 
the bird in the air, sometimes as much as four or five feet from 
the ground. I have seen the birds pass by many perfectly ob- 
vious wingless grasshoppers, intent upon the larger flying ones, 
apparently for the pure fun of catching them ; and it is no 
wonder, in a way, for the bird is very graceful about it. A widely 
ranging species of black-winged grasshopper ( Dissosteirci Caro- 
lina), which sometimes made a rather loud noise in its courtship 
flight, was always difficult to capture for some reason, and many 
of them got away entirely. Sometimes a big grasshopper, fright- 
ened by the bird, flew so high that the Road-runner refused to 
leap for him, in which case the bird ran nimbly along under him, 
merely waiting for him to descend. Thus have I seen a Road- 
runner pursue a grasshopper for a hundred yards or more. 
How different from the tactics of a hawk; in fact quite the 
reverse. 
The teeming prairies offered abundant food for the pet birds, 
which spent most of the day running at large about the house, 
