1564 I went back to Neo's domain only to find that a brown towhee now occupied the place and, as I had seen the "thrasher" only through a maze of honeysuckle stalks about the diameter and color of a thrash- er's bill, it may be that there was no thrasher there at all. At 2:30 Rhody had retired to the branches of an acacia near his gum tree for much needed rest. It would have been possible to touch him without moving from the sidewalk, but nobody, not looking for him, ever could have seen him except by accident. From 3:50 to 4:10 he could not be located. When it was found that he was not at or near his gum tree roost it was thought that, on account of the beating he received there last night, he might have decided in favor of his old house; but he was not there either. He decided in favor of the gum-tree after all and, at 4:44½ precisely, the last rays of the sun gilding his throat, he jumped from the ladder tree to the roof of his house and, in a fraction of a second, was settled for the night on his limb. Two shrill children with roller skates grinding on the pavement and a hysterical fox- terrier passed back and forth almost below him. He did not like it, but he is getting used to our "civilization." I wonder why he was late again. (Perfectly calm, clear 55°). I suppose he was nearby all the time, but he is hard to see where there are bushes and trees, and if he is in the open with only two or three twigs in line with him, even then, unless he moves, he is only a part of the picture, and is easily overlooked. Dec. 13th. (Sunrise 7:16, sunset 4:51). A bright and sunny morning, perfectly calm. Thrashers singing off to the north-east and calling in the garden When I went out at 9:10, birds were everywhere. Rhody was already up and when I came upon him at the base of the old oak, he was making saucy gestures with head and tail. Longbill here. A thrasher was scrippin in the tree overhead. This bird was, with little doubt, Longbill, whom I have not seen for weeks. No other thrasher seen here has so long a bill and so abruptly curved downward at the tip. Longbill would not come down for worms and soon dived down into the orchard. Rhody, wanting no food: meat or mouse, repaired to the cage roof to sun himself. (54°). He has eaten no meat for a long time. Neo back. Julio reports that, at about 7:15 A.M., Neo was at his place on the south bank and was given worms, but was "kind of nervous". This suggests presence of Longbill at that time and Neo's possible fear of him. At 10:10, in contrast with conditions an hour earlier, the place was almost birdless. There may have been a hawk raid, but I could locate no hawks. Even Rhody was missing, but found a little later on the horizontal eucalyptus limb at the sidewalk that he has recently favored. He had not touched his meat at the cage and had been given no mouse, nor was he offered one. Up to this time the birds seen here this morning were: Thrashers, Rhody, the two kinds of towhees, Bewick wren, hermit thrush, juncos, read-breasted nuthatches, white- and golden-crowned sparrows, Califor- nia jays, bushtits, wrentits, siskins (heard), many quail (of course) song sparrows, and, a little later, the plain titmice and the Anna's humming-bird doings its power-dive and whistle for the delectation of its mate.