common. They have many notes, some like a Magpie others Gaylife and still others high pitched and shrill. The birds are shiny black like the Bower Blackbird and have a long tail broad in the vertical direction. Apparently they can't spread the tail to any degree. In flight the appear something like Magpies. The female is browner with a more normal ruffled tail and has the brown eye instead of yellow as by the male. There seemed to be considerable courting going on. The hills about the town are at present dry and dustlike but will undoubtedly leaf out well in the coming rainy season. Most of plants seem to be legumes of some sort. We found some of the Mimosa pudica or sensitive plant which curled up on touching it. Accordingly the whole leafy growth would close up when one of the new leaves was touched. During the middle of the day all of the town as well as the birds seemed to be taking a