and merely shading the youngbirds from the sun, panting contin- ously. (Temp.84). He came down almost at once for food, then after a brief absence in the brush (perhaps a half minute) returned- to the nest. He considered taking a small piece of meat with him, but decided against it and ate it himself. Heretofore, in order to stand at the nest, it has been necessary for me to occupy a conspicuous position near the edge of the bank where passers-by could easily see me if they happened to look in my direction, and where, due to the slope, it was impossible to look into the nest. This time I cut a passage way through the chaparral from the op- posite side, Rhody not objecting, and was pleased to find that it was possible to stand at the nest and look into it from the ground and be concealed at the same time from all persons. R showed no fear at all and began reaching for my offerings as soon as they were presented, but ate everything himself. The chicks were evi- dently well fed, as they did not stir. Since they were partly cov- ered by Rhody, they appeared as more or less formless masses with what looked like wet feathers (perhaps pin feathers) of road-runner coloration. Rhody was very gentle toward me, showed no hostility or fear for the brood, allowed me to touch them, hrooed once very softly and twice made one syllable of his rattle-boo which was barely au- dible. As new behavior: Instead of snatching worms and meat rather hastily as is his usual custom, he would not attempt to pull either away from me, but would wait until I had plainly let go and then withdraw his head. When he had clearly had quite enough, instead of refusing it point blankly at first, he would still reach for the meat or the worm and hold it by one end while I held the other and either allow me to withdraw it without resistance or lay it on the edge of the nest while he still had hold of it, releasing his hold when I did the same. I could only interpret this as