1439 At 3:30 I found him already in the cage, on his arm-chair- shelf, stretched out comfortably. J. reported him catching a lizard in the cage about 4 P.M. I was too busy to look him up until 5 P.M., when he was back at work on his new nest. He contin- ued to work until 5:50. He then began to take more interest in me, so we went to the shop for another mouse. (This is late for nest building and mouse eating). This mouse he carried off down the lower road toward the west. Last week I had 50 cubic yards of earth dumped on the eastern end of this road, so that the first 25 yards or so that R has to traverse on the way to his roost are now greatly altered in topography. This stretch now terminates in an abrupt bank 5 or 6 feet high at the western end. (Rhody has shown that he has observed the change). On this occasion when he reached the end bank, he faced back toward me, bowed and hrooded then jumped off, exactly as if he were giving me a parting salute. Who knows? Perhaps it was. April 21st. At 8 A.M., while I was looking for Rhody elsewhere, he ap- peared outside this room gathering twigs amongst the azaleas, according to Julio. I found him at 8:10 at work on his new nest. At 8:45 he had suspended operations in order to warm his back, but decided to follow me to the tool house for breakfast. The mouse was carried, with ritual, up to the roof of the house, to various reflecting surfaces, then to the new nest, where it was eaten. This constitutes the dedication of this structure with living sacrifice. Already this inchoate fabric seems to have become the dominating physical entity--temporarily at least--of his present reproductive cycle. No doubt it is destined to be supplanted by a new one; for, in the absence of a mate, Rhody is not content to remain static: he must be doing something. Pos- session of an empty nest (or nests) does not satisfy his in- stincts. Unable to get a mate and carry out the ordained pattern to a successful conclusion, he does the only thing possible for him to do in pursuance of the plan: build nests. I do not think these nests are so called "cock-nests" in the sense of their being places of refuge or rest for a male bird; they are "hopeful habitations" for the rearing of offspring. Should he get a mate and have eggs in a nest, that, based on observations of his successful year, would end nest-building activities unless a second brood were to be undertaken. 9:45 Still working. I had to leave for a few hours. At about 1 P.M. I took my sister to see him working. He was a little shy, but continued for a few minutes more, then went off a short distance to sit in the sun. He would not take worms or a mouse. He loafed much of the afternoon, visited the magpies, had an- other mouse which he displayed at the mirror. At 6:10 P.M. he was out in the street part way to his roost. (Sunset 6:51). April 22nd. At 7:50 A.M. Rhody was not working, but about three quarters of an hour later I found him busy at the nest. As I cut dead branches from the nearby trees and snipped the branchlets into suitable lengths, he came and got them and carried them up to his nest. He appears to use discrimination in his selections and does not always take the twig nearest to hand. Often he picks up and drops several before choosing one finally. Others he also whips on the