overcome her fear and slipped out after clucking at me when my hand from about 2 feet farther away was about 6 inches from her. She then called and Brownie came in placid manner, "counted" the youngsters, then hovered them, Nova de- parting. Nova is undoubtedly an "old" bird. Her fear of human beings lends further support to the evidence furnished by her eye color, and further, tends to confirm Greenie's youthfulness. As Brownie had, on first acquaintance, what I suppose is the fully adult eye-color, I am more than ever impressed with my good fortune in having him had him become so friendly and in so short a time. Greenie's taming I am inclined to ascribe to extreme youth and her confidence in Brownie; but why Brownie's readiness to accept my original overtures? Perhaps he wanted to show off before Greenie! Perhaps he also was very young and the males acquire adult eye-color sooner than the females. Road Runner The road-runner's flight feathers are now out 3 or 4 inches beyond where the cut still shows on his wing coverts. He must have already moulted those flight feathers when his wings were clipped. By checking back, it appears that the clipping took place about the third week in April, so that the moult must have begun much earlier. His tail coverts have been moulting for some time, and when he preens, small, loose feathers float off. Preening. He spent about 10 minutes this morning preening, making frequent use of his oil gland and rubbing himself all over with the side of his bill, reaching well up even on his neck. After this he stood on the ground facing me and puffed his feathers out as far as possible at the sides, making himself look about three times as wide as usual, and flat, meanwhile allowing the sun to shine hotly on his back. Swallowing lizards. He swallows live lizards whole, making no attempt to break them up. Curiously enough, the lizards seem to make no objection to the preliminary operation of getting them headed in the right direction, since they do not struggle at all. When headed toward his gullet, one good gulp does the business, and one sees external evidence of the unfortunate creature's descent into the abyss, after which there is a great calm, the road-runner wipes his beak and looks with renewed interest, speculatively, at the donor as if realizing for the first time that that person has his points after all. Black mouth. Eyelashes and eyes. The inside of his mouth is "black." He has distinct eyelashes. The pupil is encircled by a narrow brassy ring. Outside of that the iris is dark again.