January, 1882.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
85 
Road-runner. 
Mr. E. A. Small’s mention of the Road- 
runner, in the November number of the 
O. and O., reminds me that I have, since 
writing what I did in the March number, 
learned several things about that bird that 
I did- not then know. At that time one 
season’s observation was the limit to my 
experience with it; but during the season 
of i88i, though.not particularly fortunate 
n finding many nests myself, yet Mr. Fred. 
Corey, of Santa Paula, Cal., who was my 
almost constant companion on all oological 
tramps, was especially fortunate in finding 
numerous nests of Geococcyx. As many as 
eight nests were examined by us, and we 
were both greatly surprised to learn that 
the “ sets” were so large. Five to six eggs 
seemed to be the usual number, but nests 
were found containing seven, eight, and in 
one case nine eggs. A majority of these 
nests were found before the bird had com¬ 
pleted oviposition, and in almost every in¬ 
stance the eggs were not taken until we 
were reasonably certain that laying was 
completed. By so doing we learned, first, 
that the eggs are deposited one on each al¬ 
ternate day; second, that the bird begins 
incubation soon after the first egg is laid— 
in every instance long before oviposition 
has ceased. When we came to blow the 
eggs we found them in all stages of incu¬ 
bation, from embryos nearly ready to leave 
the shell, down through various stages of 
embryotic change, to one or two fresh or 
nearly fresh eggs. 
The facts stated by me in the March 
0 . and O. as facts are facts. Whether the 
two much incubated eggs, found May i6th, 
were all that had been laid in that set, or 
whether a portion of the set had been de¬ 
stroyed, I am unable to say. The other set 
mentioned in the same article is as perplex¬ 
ing. How there happened to be two near¬ 
ly fully fledged young and two fresh eggs 
is hard to understand. 
In this connection I might mention a 
peculiar belief which obtains to some ex¬ 
tent among Californians, viz.; that the 
Road-runner, soon after the young leave 
the shell, lays other eggs for them to feed 
upon. This belief proves at least one 
thing, that it is a common thing to find 
both young and eggs in the same nest. 
In Baird, Brewer and Ridgway’s Birds 
of North America is the following: “They 
(Road-runners) build a clumsy nest of 
mesquit twigs placed at some height on a 
bough or in a hollow tree, and lay from two 
to four pure white eggs.” Also, eggs were 
found near San Antonio, Texas, in April, 
May, and as late as the 23d of Septeniber. 
Several things in this need verifying 
slightly. First, the make-up of the nest 
depends of course upon locality; second, 
the position also depends upon the same. 
In the vicinity of Santa Paula, a vast ma¬ 
jority are built in bunches of cactus, usual¬ 
ly not over three to five feet from the 
ground. We found one nest in an orange 
tree, four feet up, and one in an alder 
bush, seven feet up. Third, none of the 
eggs were pure white, but all a dirty white. 
Taking all these facts into consideration, 
it would seem that the Road-runner is a 
very “ uncertain quantity” as regards her 
breeding habits.— B. IV Eyerman. 
[Geo. B. Sennett, in his ornithology of 
the Rio Grande, gives a very lengthy de¬ 
scription of the nesting habits of this bird, 
which confirms the above statement as to 
the number of eggs and their condition 
during incubation, &c. In his report of 
the expedition of 1877, he states the color 
of eggs to be '“pure white." In the report of 
1878 he says: “ Their color is opaque white." 
We should be pleased to hear from Mr. 
Sennett and place on record his decision, 
of which statement is correct.—Ed.] 
---- 
Auburn, N. Y.—We are happy to an¬ 
nounce to our ornithological friends that 
H. Gilbert Fowler, of Auburn, N. Y., has 
just started on a collecting trip to the lower 
Mississippi. His object is to collect gen¬ 
erally, but particularly that rare and beauti¬ 
ful species, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 
As Mr. Fowler makes a very fine skin, 
watch carefully for his return.— /'. S. Wright. 
