window, although the night was clear, calm and mild. November 12th. Road-runners' attitude toward mice and meat today. A large mouse was given Rhody yesterday. He killed it but did not eat it, going off and leaving it on the ground. Before that it had been offered to A and T, but although they pecked it once or twice they also abandoned it. It was put into the cage and left there all night. In the morning it was found up on a shelf, the forward half of the body being damp and showing signs of an effort having been made to swallow it. Later in the morning Terry "killed it again", but did not eat it. It was then placed in Rhody's dish outside the cage with his meat. When he came to the cage at noon he took the mouse by preference, carried it off about 10 feet, dropped it to the ground and stood looking at it. He left it, came and got the meat, paying no further attention to the mouse. Each of the youngsters was given a small mouse today, well within their capacity to swallow whole. They killed the mice after hunting for them in the growth within the cage, but lost interest in them when dead, and ate meat in preference to them, showing, presumably, that they were hungry, but that their interest in the mice was as something to capture, at the time. All of these road-runners like their food alive and kicking. If very hungry, they will eat dead things, but they must be fresh. The liking for butcher's meat is an acquired taste. They have overcome, partially at least, their objection--if any--to its deadness. Yet it is still observable that a piece of meat which they have frequently ignored will be eaten when picked up and offered to them from hand. R and young. Rhody continues to be interested in the youngsters and always displays his skin colors when looking at them. The red is very bright. He still maintains silence in their presence, the talking being done by Archie and Terry, who move about to get a better look at him, using me as a perch if I happen to be in the right place, sometimes waving their tails back and forth in a horizontal plane. This tail movement, not the usual one as has been pointed out, has some special significance. So far it appears to signify some unique interest, the exact character of which escapes me. It seems to be used only on special occasions. A's early retiring. Cloudy all day. Archie went to bed at 3 P.M.--a record for him. I continued work on the cage for two hours longer, hammering, sawing, etc. He was in the new part. I was outside and the progress of the work required that I drive nails within 3 inches of his stern where it was backed up against the wall. During this two hour period he did not once leave his bed. Heretofore he might have been in and out 20 times. A's indifference to noise of known origin. Speculation. I doubt if the cloudiness had much to do with his early retiring, since it caused neither Terry nor Brownie to advance their roosting time. Archie had just eaten two water-dogs (newts) and perhaps considered he had done a full day's work. A's greater composure in his roost may be attributable to the fact that, since he adopted the new roost in the addition, there has been no friction between him and T at bed-time and T is at liberty to take any of the older locations that he prefers, usually, now, the hanging nest. B's roosting time unchanged by weather. Brownie, as intimated, went to bed (in the dorm.) at his usual time: a little after sunset, though on account of cloudiness, there was not much to indicate time of sunset.