16 LOH E A UeD UB OON#@ Be Us hea 
Roadrunner (Geococcyx calitornianus} 
By Anna C. Ames 
The Roadrunner has been described as strange, odd, queer, amazing, 
unique, fantastic, and grotesque. To what other bird may all these terms be 
fittingly applied? The Roadrunner is America’s only representative of a 
group known as ground cuckoos. It is “the cuckoo that runs on the ground,” 
and it can run about twenty miles an hour. It lives almost entirely upon 
the ground and prefers running to flying, although it can fly well enough 
when it wishes. 
The Roadrunner is long and slender — streamlined, one might say. 
It is about two feet long, half of which length is a highly mobile tail 
which is used as a combined rudder and brake. The legs are long and strong. 
The bird shares the family peculiarity of having two toes pointing forward 
and two back; the inside toes are much shorter than the outside ones. 
In flight the short, rounded wings show white crescents. The entire plumage 
is coarse and streaked over the neck and back and wing coverts with 
buffy white. The over-all coloring appears rather dull at a little distance. 
Each feather is mottled in the center; the iridescent black glistens green 
or brown on the back and wings and purple on the neck, margined by soft 
brown or gray. Bare patches near and behind the eyes are yellow or 
orange-colored like desert sands. The patches may be expanded or closed 
at will. Throat and chest are white with numerous streaks, and the belly 
is white. The beak is long and horny. The sexes are similar in coloration, 
but the female is somewhat smaller than the male. 
Sometimes the Roadrunner spreads its wings and raises the neck 
feathers so as to sun its back, which is covered with coarse down rather 
than feathers. The crest looks like prickly spines or hair standing on end 
from fright. Perhaps no other bird has such senstitive control of its 
crest feathers. 
The Roadrunner is a bird of the ground. When first seen, it is likely 
to stand and stare for a few seconds, then turn and disappear. No other 
bird of comparable size can vanish so completely and instantly. His speed 
is unequaled among birds and his leaping agility is astounding. 
The varied sounds of the Roadrunner’s voice surprise one. He gives 
six or elght dove-like coos descending in pitch. This “song” is somewhat 
like that of-a cuckoo, but louder and coarser. ‘He may sit on a rock or 
other perch with his tail hanging down; then he inflates his crop with air, 
presses his beak down against it, and, straining, forces out weird calls.” 
When disturbed, he often makes a startling rattle by clapping his mandibles 
together. 
The Roadrunner frequently nests in the thorniest of cacti, the cholla, 
and also in mesquite, sagebrush, or thorny trees. The nest is only a few 
feet above the ground, but its location gives protection from most enemies. 
It is about a foot in diameter and six to eight inches high. Usually well- 
built and not deeply cupped, the nest is a large, coarse, compact structure 
of sticks lined with stems, leaves, grass, feathers, and usually chips of 
horse or cow manure. The eggs, from four to eight in number, are covered 
with a chalky deposit. 
Young Roadrunners hatch at intervals. A single nest may contain a 
perfectly fresh egg, another well on its way toward hatching, a couple 
