1409. A 'possum caught at the cage. On returning to the house, I was informed by Julio that there was a little dog in the box trap at the cage. Pressed for a de- scription, he said it had long hair and was gray, like the song- sparrow just outside the window. It proved to be an opossum that had lost a part of its tail, one vertebra showing through at the end. When the door was opened it would not come out, even when prodded. A piece of meat placed in front of its nose was soon eaten. R still working on 4-37. At 8:15 Rhody was trying to break twigs off of the shrubs in the street where everybody could see him, and I gave him a mouse, which was carried off with due ceremony. Brownie was singing somewhere near the glade. A whistle brought him to me, flying directly to my hand where I stood in the open street below. He was very hungry and though he retreated when a man approached and stood 10 feet from me restraining the Mc Cul-ou lough dog, he returned notwithstanding. A few minutes later, when I passed the old oak, he dropped down to me almost vertically for more. I was trying to see whether he would go to work on the nest he had started there, but he would not. At 10: A.M. Brownie was still singing from the top of the old oak, and when, a few minutes later, I was watching Rhody carrying twigs up to his nest, another thrasher was singing a continuous song about 50 yards away. While the song was easily recognizable as that of a thrasher, it differed so much from Brownie's and Nova's utterances that there was no possibility of confusing them. I could not identify a single phrase (although this is not especial- ly to be wondered at) as one of B's or N's. In general, I think it can be said that, unlike so many of the lesser songsters, the Cal- ifornia thrasher has no stereotyped song common to all individuals. This refers to the full song. Rhody was pulling dead stalks out of the steep west bank of the west lot at street level and carrying them up the sloping trunk of the roost tree instead of via the ladder tree. The whole world could see the entire operation--if it happened to be in the right place at the right time--for it was as public a performance as I have ever seen. Poor Rhody, I fear, has no realization of the dangers to which he is subjecting himself in thus openly perform- ing his duties within the very confines of the lair of the most ruthless animal on earth. 10:30 A.M. The 'possum, another innocent, is now snoozing peace- fully in the trap with door wide open. I shall cart him off and let him find another sleeping place. 12:45 . He was taken away and released 7 miles (by road) from here. He had to be dumped out of the trap, and then wanted to go back in again. On being dissuaded he crawled away deliberately to a bush where he composed himself to continue his interrupted nap. On returning here a half dozen children --small ones--followed up the driveway and wanted to see the birds. With such a formid- able array, naturally Rhody, if anywhere about, would have been invisible. However, Brownie responded nobly and flew to my hand for worms, to the delight of the children. One of the latter said that his mother had found Rhody trapped in the basement of their house last year and had let him go--so, there is one of the "animals" mentioned above that is not ruthless. The place is a quarter of a mile south of here. (Murphy).