x972* (79) April 6th. No eggs up to at least 12:30 at which time nest was unoccupied. (Something has destroyed the quail and Junco nests in the court. The Junco nest was completely torn to pieces. Found an egg nearby, [illegible] restored the nest and put the egg in. It now remains to be seen, what happens). April 7th. The birds appear to be now undergoing the thinking phase which precedes the laying of the eggs. At 9 A.M. one of them is sitting in it without moving about. The Junco nest is again destroyed and the egg gone. I suspect the Steller Jay which is very plentiful here and prowling around a lot. Saw one go into the bushes when this nest is) At 9:55 Brown-eyes took the place of her mate on the nest. At 11:45 There [illegible] a bird on the nest. So far this morning I have not seen both birds at the same time except on change of shift. Yesterday they came and ate together several times. This morning appears to mark the beginning of continuous occupancy of the nest. Brown-eyes appeared at the oval lawn, having just had a good soaking bath somewhere. This means Green-eyes on the nest. At 2:30 Green-eyes off duty. (This does not mean that there were no changes in between--there probably was at least one). G.E. still creeps up like a mouse to get worms. No egg April 8th. Brown-eyes on the nest at 8:15. Green-eyes came for a good feed of worms, being much bolder this morning, then took charge at the nest. At 12:15 I shot a rabbit, which has been destroying my grape vines near the glade. There were no birds in sight at the time. I used a BB cartridge, so there was little noise. The rabbit was killed instantly and subsided without a struggle. Almost immediately Brown-eyes appeared running toward the rabbit, which she inspected, by actual timing,