The Virginia Rail remains in the Enid Haupt Garden. Early this morning, it was in the yews along Independence Ave. (outside the garden). Its schedule seems to have changed somewhat in the last week--it seems to be much more in evidence in the early afternoon, mainly around the hostas near the fountain. Its home range still seems to include the row of yews along Independence Ave. east of the garden gate and the west side and the north side of the National Museum of African Art. A few natural history notes: I have yet to see it anywhere but in the shade. It will come out into the open, yet always remains in the shade of a tree or shrub. It gets harassed by the young European Starlings, but doesn't seem to mind--when they fly at it, it merely turns the other way. It sprints for cover when it sees flying grackles and crows. Perhaps they remind it of hawks, or perhaps it knows something we don't about rail predation in these species! And when it sprints, it is *amazingly* fast! Jim Jim Felley Smithsonian Institution irmss668@sivm.si.edu