1566 Rhody not up at 8:45. (52°). Sunny, calm; fog blanket below. Neo back with another thrasher. At this time I heard short snatches of thrasher song off toward the entrance. I went to Neo's territory there and he soon came up the bank, talking, and through the fence to get his worms. He kept up almost constant talk, frequently looked back through the fence and, almost as frequently ran back through the hole under it and peered about, still talking, as if to keep in touch with some other bird. Which was just what he was doing, as I caught glimpses of it dig- ging on the bank and not apparently paying any attention to either Neo or me. Neo went back and forth thus many times, always talking. It almost seems as if he were trying to induce this other bird to follow his example in the matter of worms. At 9:20 Rhody was up and sunning at the sage patch. After find- ing him uninterested in worms, I went on 15 feet further to the fence to look up Neo. He came through promptly and the previous action was repeated. The other bird was seen as before. Rhody shows curiosity. This time Rhody sneaked up behind me silently to watch, as I dis- covered upon looking behind me. He wanted no worms and would not even pick them up. He would not follow me for a mouse and soon went back to his sunning operation, ignoring the thrashers. His motive here appeared to be pure curiosity. Neo does not show same marker as "Victory" On my two contacts this morning I had ample opportunity to ob- serve whether he had the same displaced feather over his left eye that the "Victory" bird did; but there was no evidence of it. At best this would probably be only a temporary marker and I am inclined to think that Neo and "Vic" are the same bird. At 10:20 I went back to Neo's domain. There was no talk, but a thrasher was at the fence where Neo usually appears. It ran away promptly, however, and as Neo was not seen, perhaps this thrasher was the other bird and it may be that I did see another thrashers in Neo's place on the 12th. (See last paragraph, p. 1463 and first p. 1564). Rhody was now found after search sitting in one of his old preferred resting places in the acacia at the east end of the cage which he has not been using lately. Julio gave him a mouse about noon Most of the afternoon he spent in an acacia on the south bank near his roost, and on the bank itself. About 4 P.M. he came back under to the fence as if to see me. I offered him worms, but he would not take them. I then got him a mouse and laid it in front of me. He brightened at once, came closer, but merely to watch the mouse. He wanted nothing to eat; thus again demonstrating how well he gauges his food requirements. At 4:34 he was in his roost in the eucalyptus after his custom- ary deliberate upward progress through the ladder-tree. (54°). High coulds and thin, low fog most of the afternoon; a clear zone between. Dec. 17th. (Sunrise 7:19, sunset 4:52). At 8:15 A.M. Rhody was still in his roost. (Clear, calm, 47°). Neo was not in his domain on the bank near the sage patch. At 9:15 Rhody was sunning at the sage patch. I could hear thrashers talking nearby, so investigated. Neo came out promptly to get his worms, keeping up a conver- sation with another bird out of sight in the bushes.