. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. PARROTS, KINGFISHERS, AND FLYCATCHERS 805. Photograph from F. W. Hoepfner EVIDENCE THAT A ROAD-EUNNER MAY EAT A RATTLER I Early one spring a farmer, J. C. Carraway, of Robstown, Texas, was walking in the mesquite brush with some of his dogs when he came upon this bird devouring a snake. His dogs killed the road-runner, which, being encumbered, was unable to run or fly away. The reptile was about fifteen inches long (page 812). eyes to identify songsters known pre- viously only from books and voiceless museum specimens. Through
. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. PARROTS, KINGFISHERS, AND FLYCATCHERS 805. Photograph from F. W. Hoepfner EVIDENCE THAT A ROAD-EUNNER MAY EAT A RATTLER I Early one spring a farmer, J. C. Carraway, of Robstown, Texas, was walking in the mesquite brush with some of his dogs when he came upon this bird devouring a snake. His dogs killed the road-runner, which, being encumbered, was unable to run or fly away. The reptile was about fifteen inches long (page 812). eyes to identify songsters known pre- viously only from books and voiceless museum specimens. Through all these enticing sounds there came one that I recognized without the slightest difficulty, a steady koo-koo, koo- koo that announced the European cuckoo. Long years of familiarity with the strik- ing of cuckoo clocks in my native land left not the slightest doubt of the identity of this note, and I laughed at the exactness of the imitation as I searched for the singer. Suddenly I saw a bird with long, broad tail flying with rapidly beating wings across a little valley, and the search was ended. PARROTS AND CUCKOOS ARE RELATIVES Ornithologists consider the cuckoos close relatives of the parrots in spite of their en- tirely different appearance. More than two hundred forms of cuckoos (family Cuculidae) are known, all being birds of slender form and small or medium size, often with long tails. Though widely dis- tributed throughout the world, they are commonest in tropical areas. While most cuckoos live among the branches of trees, some, such as the ani, feed regularly on the ground, forming a transi- tion to those species like the road-runner that are entirely terrestrial and seldom fly (Color Plate II and pages 809-812). The family activities of many of this group are strange and interesting, as among them parasitism in breeding is more wide- spread than in any other group of birds. The best-known example is the European cuckoo, a species that always places its egg in the nest
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