1674 During the rest of the day thrasher programme was unchanged-- the youngsters returning again in the late afternoon; Neo still feed- ing them and showing no intentions of driving them away. Rhody could be found at home any time when looked for. It was a day of complete loafing for him. Between 10 A.M. and 4 P.M. he was seen in his nest everytime I looked there, and that was often While I can not say that he did not leave the nest during that peri- od, he was seen no other place, and I believe he was in the nest most, if not all, of that time. Weather conditions were as near perfect as could be wished. A little after 4 P.M. he came down and wanted a mouse, which he again ate without ceremony. Thereafter he occupied the next half hour or so by playing with the magpies and making frequent short trips between the cage and me--seeming to want something but not knowing himself what it was. When he wander- ed off to the Clearing spotted towhees were heard complaining there, so I went to investigate. He was sitting quietly on top of the small brush pile in which the towhees have a nest and was apparent- ly unaware of their presence. I watched him closely to detect if possible any signs of such awareness on his part, but saw none. One parent remained in the nest; the other scolded nearby. At 5:15 Rhody left for his house in the eucalyptus, travelling in reverse his old route through the orchard. At 5:18 he was in bed. May 8th. Rhody was not seen between about 7 A.M. and 2 P.M. At 2 P.M. he suddenly sailed down from nest 3-38 and wanted a mouse. (I won- der if he had been camping there). I had looked there before without seeing him). The rest of the day he stayed home; bestowed much at- tention upon the magpies, and loafed. About 4:20 P.M. I again heard the spotted towhees complaining, again finding Rhody sitting on their brush heap, one bird scolding and the other in the nest. Again he seemed unaware of the nest; but I sat down and watched--until 5:15 in fact. At that time Rhody began to circumnavigate the brush pile, dusting and stretching. He then jumped squarely on top of the brush precisely above the nest 6 inches below! The towhee burst forth startling Rhody momentarily. He merely looked down casually--appar- ently saw nothing, then began strolling casually toward his house in the gum tree. I thought he was on his way to bed, but he went to the mag- pie cage instead; played with them a while, then followed me to the tool-house, looked at my offerings, but accepted none. Back to the cage again; then, on coming out, walked toward his house a few steps, dusted, discovered a dried weed that looked like that composite he favors so much; picked it up; abandoned it and began gathering pine needles one at a time. I picked up the weed and smelled it. There was no aromatic odor. I picked up another dried weed which I knew to be the composite (for I had pulled it up myself a week ago when it was still growing) and found it aromatic. (Had he dropped the other because it did not smell "right"?). After several minutes making careful selections he had a large billful of pine needles. He now bowed, hrood and tail-wag- ged--to my surprise, for this ritual is never (?) devoted to nest- ing material. (There may have been one or two instances of it in four years, but if so, it is somewhere recorded in these notes). He took the load to nest 3-38 and there deposited it--a strange time to begin nesting operations for the day! He now sat quietly in the nest. When I spoke to the three thrashers (Neo and the two young- sters 50 feet away in the sage-patch, now home again) Rhody began to cry. (Not realizing the remarks were not intended for him!).