1202 June 16th. No display by R for 2 mice. Rhody did not display for either mouse given him today and spent his time on the nest, in the cage preening or watching the magpies, on the observatory roof, sunning on the ground or investigating the cause of excitement amongst the quail (a cat), until noon. Rhody absent. After that he was not to be found anywhere during the rest of the day, including all of his known roosting places long after his usual bed-time. Young thrasher getting bold. When the young thrasher that Brownie is feeding sees his parent approaching me, he comes too; in fact sometimes anticipates B's arrival. Thus, once today, he flew almost into my face from a bush 15 feet away, shifting his course suddenly as I was about to duck and landing behind me before B had reached me. I scarcely see the others--never both together, but Nova is attending to them (or it). June 17th. Rhody still away. Up to 11:15 (this moment) not a sign of Rhody about the vicinity in any of the places where he was almost certain to be usually. I suppose he is off on one of his very infrequent expeditions out into the world. " 1 P.M. Still no Rhody. I hope, but do not expect, it will turn out that he has located a mate and is endeavoring to persuade her to come here and occupy one of his many mansions. 4:30 P.M. Still no Rhody. This is getting serious! 6 P.M. On returning at 5:30 I found Rhody by the cage. He was perfectly indifferent to my coming and showed no signs of recognition--somewhat to my disappointment. I got him a mouse, but he was not interested. In 15 minutes he went up to the nest and did not even whine. As I was attempting to formula some theory to account for his lack of enthusiasm, it occurred to me to ask Julio if he had seen him and fed him. He had--both--at about 5 P.M. A young rat, which he gobbled at once. My tentative theory, as far as it had advanced, was that he had stuffed himself with lizards while abroad. June 18th. At 8:30 A.M. I went out to look up Rhody to see if he was still on the job and ready to acknowledge my existence in case he should see me. I could not find him at first--in fact, did not find him literally--as he found me and was pleased to follow me to the shop-yard and watch while I "dug up" a mouse, "muttering" softly. (I.e. he rattled his bill barely audibly and "blew" at the same time). There was no ceremony with this mouse. A squeeze, one slap on the ground, and it was on the way down. Rhody examined the ground about his feet as if to see whether he had overlooked anything (a common action of his), stretched out a wing and a leg on the same side, then climbed up to the observatory tower to observe the affairs of the outside world from that point for the next hour. For the next half hour he was out of sight somewhere, but when Brownie began to sing from the old oak, Rhody came trotting up the road from the street as if in answer to the thrasher. He climbed the adjoining tree instead of joining B. In this tree there is a towhee nest. So, thinking I might catch him in flagrante delicto, I stole up carefully. He was about 6 feet