(43) and back again with anxious glances up into the sky and long, hori- zontal peerings into the bushes. She cranes her neck and stretches up to her full height and looks in all directions except at me. She is not worried about me at all and does not hesitate to turn her back on me. Finally she trots out calmly and eats soft-food from my hand, then suddenly bolts back into the bushes again in a panic and resumes her intense scrutiny of the surroundings. She is about to come out to me again, but changes her mind and runs rapidly toward to the nest 175 feet away, keeping under the trees and bushes as much as possible. I could see no enemy anywhere, but there must have been one, as this is typical behavior when an enemy is either present or has gone but a short time previously. These thrashers are extremely nervous, alert and responsive to abrupt movements or sudden sounds which they associate with danger. As noted previously, firing a shot gun about 25 feet away from one of them and aimed within about ten feet of it, did not cause the bird to exhibit fear, and in the case of the other bird, farther away, it actually seemed to attract it. Yet the snapping of a twig, an alarm note, a sudden rustling of wings, a shadow rapidly moving, a flash of light from my glasses, or a too rapid approach on my part causes them to retreat into the nearest bush where, however, they stand, firm and alert, without cowering. As well as they know me now, they will often retreat into the bushes on first catching sight of me near at hand, and come out only when satisfied that I am still harmless, whereas many of the other kinds of birds here often give the impression of being actually tamer--up to a certain point--and perhaps they are. As previously noted, most of the thrashers' digging is done with vertical strokes of the bill, followed by sweeping movements