1537 very active locally, hence unnecessary exposure in the open is to be avoided. (I have noted an increasing tendency for him to run across open spaces recently). Further Rhody may reasonably be considered now as at least semi-domesticated. Taking all this into consideration, it does not seem necessary, in the case of this particular individual, to regard his early re- tirements and late risings as induced by something akin to hibernation phenomenon. It would be instructive to know what perfectly wild road-runners do at this time of the year and the next few months. At 12:55 P.M., with the aid of the wrentits, I located Rhody in the glade. Although I was on the far side of it from the tool-house, he came quickly over to me without invitation with that bright, expect- ant look he assumes in anticipation of favors. He followed promptly to the mouse abode for his second mouse of the day. His first was rather small. He now went to the sage-patch to lie in the open but near a bush. One single mew from a spotted towhee out of sight perhaps 50 feet away caused him to look quickly in that direction, step under the bush and look and listen intently. After 15 minutes he shifted to the up- per side of the entrance driveway where there was better protection from above and was still there when I drove out at 2:30. On my return at 4:30 he was already in his roost in the eucalyptus tree. Again in new roost. Thrushers silent. No thrashers seen or heard today. Speculation on Rhody's sudden aberrant behavior. This sudden change in roosting place has also been accompanied by abandonment (up to the present) of the west lot as a loafing place and resumption of all-day idling in a rather restricted area inside the property lines of this place. It is as if the former roosting tree and all the surrounding area of the west lot had suddenly become tabu. Whether this attitude toward formerly preferred associations will persist or not still remains to be seen. There has been little change in weather conditions--such as has occurred: a slight shift toward the cool side--rather favors his staying where he was, in order to have the protection of his house at night and the sunny slope of the south side of the lot in the day- time. Of course it may be that he merely wanted to change for the sake of a change, but, as the notes show: Hawk raids are increasing. Horned owls are being heard more frequently. He now runs across open spaces more often than he walks He sought cover today at one mew of a towhee. In descending from his roost this morning he did not use the obvious landing field, but took a difficult course through the air to land in a protected area. And in that area, although the landing was at my elbow, I could not find him for 26 minutes. At present, therefore, I am inclined to the view that action of predators accounts for his deviation from anticipated behavior, and I shall not be surprised if he shortly returns to his house in the roost tree at night and again uses the west lot as a loafing place during the autumn and winter.