BIRDS—CUCULIDAE—GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNICUS. 
73 
bill and other peculiarities. It is decidedly smaller than rugirostris, the culmen straight at its 
highest point, the anterior extremities of this nearly straight portion anterior to the nostril. 
The colors are, however, almost precisely the same with those of rugirostris. Length, 12 
inches: wing, 6.10; tail, 7.75; tarsus, 1.25; chord of culmen, 1.15. 
GEOCOCCYX, Wagler. 
Geococcyx, Wagler, Isis, 1831, 524. 
Leptostoma, Swainson, Classification Birds, II, 1837, 325. 
Bill long and strong, slightly compressed, and at least as long as the head ; head crested ; loral feathers, and those at base 
of bill stiffened and bristly. Nostrils elongated, linear. A naked colored skin around and behind the eye; the eyelids 
ciliated. Tarsi longer than the toes ; very stout. Wings very short and concave ; the tertials as long as the primries. Tail 
Lnger than the head and body ; composed of ten narrow, much graduated feathers. 
This remarkable genus is represented in the United States by a single species known as the 
Paisano, Chapparal Cock, or sometimes Road Runner, on account of its frequenting public 
highways. Its very long legs enable it to run with very great rapidity, faster even than a 
very fleet horse. A second species occurs in Mexico, the G. affinis of Hartlaub. This is 
smaller and differently proportioned, as shown by the following table of measurement: 
Comparative measurements of species. 
Catalogue 
number. 
Species. 
Locality. 
Sex. 
Length. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Middle 
toe. 
its claw 
alone. 
Bill 
above. 
Along 
gape. 
Specimen 
measured. 
6187 
25.00 
6.50 
12.55 
2.60 
1.70 
.45 
2.00 
2.61 
9081 
Gr. affinis. 
Mexico. 
o 
3 
19.20 
5.70 
11.50 
1.80 
1.53 
.41 
1.60 
1.93 
Skin. 
GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNIANUS. 
Paisano; Road Runner; Chapparal Cock. 
Saurothera californiana, “ Lesson, Complem. Buff. VI, 1829, 420.— Ib. Ann. du Mus, 1835, 121, PI. ix.” 
Geococcyx variegata, Wagler, Isis, V, 1831, 524. 
Saurothera bottae, (Blainville,) Lesson, Traite d’Orn. I, 1831, 145. 
Diplopterus viaticus, (Licht.) Boie, Isis, 1831, 541. (No description.) 
Geococcyx viaticus, Hartlaub, Rev. Zool. 1844, 215.— M’Call, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ill, July, 1847, 234.— Bon. Consp. 
1850, 97.— Tb. Consp. Zygod. in Aten. Ital. 1854, 5.— Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d series* 
II, 1853, 270.— Newberry, Zool. Cal. and Oregon Route, 91, P. R. R. Rep. VI, 1857. 
Saurothera marginata, Kaup, Isis, 1832, 991 ; tab. xxvi. (Fig. of head and foot.) 
Leptostoma longicauda, Swainson, Birds, II, 1837, 325.— Gambel, Pr. A. N. S. I, 1843, 263. 
Geococcyx mexicanus, Gambel, J. A. N. Sc. 2d series, I, 1849, 215, (not of Gmelin.)—Cassin, Ill. I, 1855, 213 ; 
pi. xxxvi. 
Sp. Ch.—T ail very long; the lateral feathers much shortest. An erectile crest on the head. A bare skin around and 
behind the eye. Legs very long and stout. 
All the feathers of the upper parts and wings of a dull metallic olivaceous green, broadly edged with white near the end. 
There is, however, a tinge of black in the green along the line of white, which itself is suffused with brown. On the neck the 
black preponderates. The sides and under surface of the neck have the white feathers streaked centrally with black, next to 
which is a brownish suffusion. The remaining under parts are whitish, immaculate. Primary quills tipped with white, and 
with a median band across the outer webs. Central tail feathers olive brown ; remaining ones clear dark green, all edged, and 
(except the central two,) broadly tipped with white. Top of the head dark blackish blue. Length 20 to 23 inclies. Wing 
about Gj. Tail, 12 to 13. 
Hab. —Middle Texas, New Mexico, and California to Central Mexico. Seen as far north as Fort Reading, California, and 
Fort Chadbourne, Texas. 
10 b 
