1646 September 20th(Sunrise 5:55; sunset 6:12). September has been running true to its reputation as the warmest (by a small margin) month of the year in this region. I missed the beginning of thrasher song this morning; probably because I had forgotten to open the west windows of my room on going to bed. However, song was heard early on the east side in the garden and was almost continuous until about 8 A.M. (Neo). At 8 A.M. I went out to look for Rhody, not seeing him until I spotted him on the driveway west of the house, very evidently looking for me. I"saw him first", but as soon as he caught sight of me he came running toward me and I headed toward the tool house, followed by him with occasional pauses to inspect the sole of one of his feet and probe it with his bill. (These notes contain many references to the tenderness of the feet of roadrunners). The route we followed (by scaled map) was 120 yards long. One small mouse was even enough, and he retired to one of his favored lath screens to rest and preen. This screen is 4 feet square and is placed horizontally over a small rhododendron near the dormitory tree. A half hour later --Rhody still there--it was seen that the surface of the screen was liberally powdered with fragments of quill-sheaths removed by him in that interval of time. About 9 A.M. Neo sounded off from his pine and I went out to observe consequences. N2 was at once seen climbing up to him. Almost simultaneously thrasher song sounded from the pine on the north side of the house 150 feet from Neo's singing post. I now, thinking that this bird "ought" also to have a retainer with him, by analogy with Neo and in accordance with a pattern which I have suspected of existing in such affairs, went to watch the other bird. Sure enough: in a minute or two another thrasher was seen at the base of his tree quietly foraging. It climbed the next nearest pine and could be heard, as in the case of N2 and Neo, taking a secondary part in the vocalization. Songs"between"the two groups continued for 25 minutes, then the"Dux"to the north sailed down into the area of the north slop His companion (Comes). sang a few more bars, then down to join him. Neo soon ceased song, but resumed for a short period, now from the ironwood tree at the south side of the oval lawn while N2, his mate, or if not actually mated: his companion (follower, comes) ate at the suet pudding station at the oval lawn. Neo was being answered by a thrasher from Brokenwing's territory--probably by that bird himself as Mr. Sampson says he is still there with his mate, and I saw them both there last week. (Incidentally, as I joined Mr. Sampson in his garden on that occasion, the two birds almost immediately showed themselves in a bush about 30 feet from us. This apparition was so nearly coincident in time with my arrival that Mr. Sampson remarked: "Well, here they are. They know you are here!" On the present occasion I did not go down to the Sampsons' to see if the singer actually was Brokenwing, accompanied also by his mate, but it is not unlikely that both were there. The bird to the north, whom I have suspected of being Inver (who has not appeared in these notes for some months) next was heard from Inver's territory. He could be identified as being the same bird that was exchanging songs with Neo a few minutes before by a phrase that he had been using while in the pine: something like the "scolding" notes of the russet-backed thrush. (Heard from him before; although this description is not a good one). It is now easy to fit all of this into a pattern based upon