August 23rd. Unusually loud singing. Brownie was extremely enthusiastic in his early morning song period. He was singing over in Reynolds territory about 8 o'clock, almost continuously, and so loudly that, from my room, I thought he was near the oval lawn instead of being 250 or more yards away, as he was, in a certain tree. I could hear him even on the far (western) side of the house and do not doubt that he could be heard for more than a quarter of a mile easily. Harmony among thrashers. During the day four to six thrashers were frequently seen here, including B who does not stay away long, Nova and the two youngsters. One of the outsiders is moulting and fairly tame. All seem on a friendly basis--no chasing--some play--considerable talk--no nesting actions. I suspect the outsiders to be members of former broods of Brownie and Greenie. August 24th. B's early song again rendered both here and in R territory. This day much the same as yesterday. Road-runner. His powers of Rhody's digestive capabilities are little short of miraculous digestion. He has had six sparrows this week; two of them this afternoon not more than a couple of hours apart. I took most of the feathers off of them, but otherwise they were intact. All were swallowed whole according to his standard practise. I have never found any pellets cast up by him, nor have I seen any movements by him that might be construed as an attempt to disgorge indigestible portions. So far the evidence is all in favor of his digesting bones, beak and skull, feathers, feet and everything else that goes to make a complete sparrow. A Duster, not bather. He never bathes, but he is an inveterate duster, although, from the fact that he seems to prefer hard rather than soft spots, and also raises little dust, it looks more as if he were really concentrating on scratching his chin, throat, breast and belly. He is shedding his body feathers profusely. Perhaps he itches all over. Pulls out tail feather. I have been told that birds, when moulting, do not pull out their feathers. However, Rhody has been seen to take hold of one of his long tail feathers near the base and pull it out deliberately. Nor was it a feather that gave any obvious evidence of falling. He held it in his bill several seconds. Comic behavior. Instances of fallibility paralleling human experience are very amusing. I gave him a piece of meat on which a feather was stuck. He laid it down and took off the feather, but it stuck to his bill, and when he picked up the meat, the feather adhered to that, so he laid it down again. Then followed a series of repeated efforts to get rid of the feather, which