Greater roadrunner of New Mexico. Greater roadrunner The greater roadrunner ("Geococcyx californianus") is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, from Southwestern United States and Mexico. The Latin name means "Californian earth-cuckoo". Along with the lesser roadrunner, it is one of two species in the roadrunner genus "Geococcyx". This roadrunner is also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. The roadrunner is about long, has a wingspan and weighs . It stands around tall and is the largest cuckoo of the Americas. Roadrunners have four toes on each zygodactyl foot; two face forward, and two face backward. The
Name of Mexico Name of Mexico The name of Mexico has several hypotheses that entail the origin, history, and use of the name "Mexico", which dates back to 14th century Mesoamerica. The Nahuatl word "Mexico" means "place of the Mexica" but the ethnonym "Mexicatl" itself is of unknown etymology. An alternate possibility is that the name may come from the word "mexixin", a cress that grew in the swamplands of Lake Texcoco. It was an edible grass that the Aztecs or Mexica survived on as they settled where today lies México City. The country México did not name its capital after itself, as