rAuk 
170       RITTER AND BENSON, "Is the Poor Bird Demented?"   April

We would point out that this extreme off-sideness of the class 
makes it specially useful in some respects for comparative studies 
as indicated. This is so from the fact that although birds and men 
are so extremely different in almost everything pertaining to their 
ordinary lives they are nevertheless both uncompromisingly true 
to type as vertebrates. 
Subjected to thorough analysis these truths are found to contain 
items that seem genuinely contributory to the interpretation of 
human life and conduct. 
But this part of the study would also be out of place in this 
paper. It is virtually inseparable from that listed as second, and 
hence must go with that in publication. 
During the week previous to May 1, 1932, we had noticed 
Towhees (Pipilo fuscu8 petulans) on the window ledge of our ad- 
joining studies eating seeds scattered from the cage of a captive 
Finch, and more seeds were placed on the ledge especially for them. 
We were rewarded by an increased frequency in their visits. On 
several occasions the birds entered the room looking for food, and 
once one alighted on a chair a few feet from its occupant. Interest 
became more acute when one of the birds began to fight with its 
reflection in the window-panes. On May 1 we placed a small 
mirror in the window to see whether or not the bird would fight 
its image in it. The fight continued here as there. This simple 
experiment led to others and to the attempt to trap and mark the 
Towhees coming to the window. We thought that the fighting 
bore some relation to the reproductive cycle and to the defense of 
territory, and by marking the birds we could more readily find 
their nests. 
The trapping soon revealed that at least four birds, members of 
three pairs, visited the windows from time to time, but only three, 
two males and one female, visited habitually. Only one of the 
birds ever fought its reflection in the window-pane. We were able 
to recognize this bird at sight by an aluminum band on one leg, 
by its dark color, and by the worn feathers on the top of its head. 
We found out later that the bird had been trapped and banded on 
February 28, 1931, by E. S. Sumner, Sr., near the Life Sciences 
Building of the University of California. The other birds were