ROAD-RUNNER. Geococcyx californianus (Lesson)

Field characters.—Of fairly large size (near that of Leghorn chicken) with tail long, fully as long as head and body (about 13 inches). General color effect of plumage pale brown, with feathers of back broadly dark centered; tail chiefly black in color, and with a large white 'thumb mark' at end of each feather; bill strong, slender, about 2 inches long; head with an erectile crest; feet and legs stout. Voice: A series of low notes, mournful in effect, with descending pitch; also a low clattering sound, repeated.

Occurrence.—Sparse resident of Lower and Upper Sonoran zones on western base of Sierra Nevada. Lives in open chaparral of the foothills, and on the plains adjacent to river-bottom thickets.

The Road-runner was found only in small numbers in the Yosemite region. One was heard 'singing' near Blacks Creek, west of Coulterville, on May 10, 1919, but only one individual was actually seen by any member of our party, and that near Lagrange, on December 18, 1915. There was much hearsay evidence, however, of its occurrence near Pleasant Valley. We were also told that it had been seen twice on a dry flat near El Portal; and Mr. Donald D. McLean reports that Road-runners are seen occasionally in the lower cañon of Beau Creek, east of Coulterville.

At Pleasant Valley, on the morning of May 30, 1915, as we walked out west of the settlement, we saw much evidence of the events of the preceding night and early morning in the dust of the road. Besides the abundant slender tracks of many smaller birds, such as towhees and sparrows, we could see where Valley Quail had crossed or run along the road in several places. There were tracks of a raccoon and of numerous California toads; and spots where kangaroo rats had taken dust baths or sought forage in the scattered chaff. But most interesting of all, because not previously noted by us in this region, were a few tracks of a fairly large bird, totally different from those of the quail. The impressions made by the toes of each foot were in tandem alignment, two in front and two behind, and the footprints were separated by considerable intervals. The evidence was conclusive—a Road-runner had passed that way.