through the shop door into the yard, I could see Rhody entering the shop; so I went down again. He entered the office from the shop and spent several minutes walking about the floor looking up at the owl on the desk Several times he crouched as if to fly up, but did not. He uttered no sound and shortly left.. At 8 o'clock, guided by the birds, I found him sitting quietly in his "optimum tree" (where he had no "right" to be on a cool, cloudy morning!) surrounded by bush tits, wrentits, Bewick wrens and one spotted towhee, the three latter scolding--he paying no attention. (There he is now--9 A.M., while I am writing this note, in the shop.) I went out and into the shop. He was looking, not at the owl which can be seen through the unfinished partition between the shop and the office, but at the multitudinous things--mysterious to road- rushers--with which the room is filled. He was very calm and quiet. I went into the office, sat down and placed the owl on the floor beside me. He began his head and tail gestures at once, came in cautiously, rattleboobed once, approached the owl within 5 feet, surveyed it calmly for a few moments, then began to walk about the desk, renewing gestures, then into the shop and out. As far as known, yesterday was the first time that Rhody had ever seen the stuffed owl. I forgot to record that, during the 7 A.M. episode, he once picked up a twig and considered carrying it up into a tree before dropping it. The foregoing gives the physical facts up to 9 A.M. with regard to the roadrunner--stuffed owl incident as observed by me. It will be clear that the affair offers a field for interminable speculation, even in its present stage. However, there may be more incidents to come. In the meantime, though, whatever may have been the bird's motive in performing these acts, there can be little doubt but that we must concede him courage of some sort. The interior of the shop and the office is filled with many strange and mysterious-- perhaps fearful--things from the point of view of a bird constantly in need of employing a defensive attitude toward all things which it does not understand. The interior of the office, gloomy on a dull morning, overhanging as it is by oak trees with the windows screened by rhododendrons and only one tortuous avenue of retreat, inhabited by a fierce (though dead) enemy of birds and, for a time by me--whom Rhody trusts only with reservations, is a place to be penetrated with risk, real or imaginary; yet the bird--undoubtedly somewhat fearful--perhaps extremely fearful, braved these various hazards courageously, as I see it. August 7th. About 6:30 A.M. I could see Rhody's tail waving at the office window. He was looking at the owl again. For the next hour and a half he continued to hang around the court, but, when Dr. and Mrs. Reynolds brought Miss Richardson and Mr. Morris to see him, a little after 8, he could not be found. Miss Richardson was eager to see some of our California birds, so we took her by car on a loop through the southern part of this county, identifying 61 species and/ or subspecies of birds, 20 (?) of which she had not seen before. At 5:30 P.M. we came back here to find Rhody, locating him at last in his house on the west lot. August 8th. Rhody was again at the office window when I looked out of