590 Feb. 15th. Everything wet. Rain during the night and some early morning singing in the rain. About 9 A.M., raining, the thrashers looked pretty wet on the outside. Work proceeds This did not keep Brownie from working on the nest actively between showers. Greenie helped a little, but not much, during the rest of the morning. The nest was dripping wet and so were the twigs added to it. It is no longer shaped like the figure 8, but like a large oval, as Brownie has filled in the re-entrant angles, making it a huge affair like a bowl. My next contribution will be a roof and a wind screen. Brownie worked well during the rest of the forenoon, notwithstanding the showers. Greenie helped a little. She captured one of those very long, thin, wormlike newts(?) and ate him piece by piece, B continuing his work without interest in G's doings. During the afternoon, on account of visitors, I had little opportunity to observe the birds. (See p. 594 at #) Feb. 16th. At 8:15 A.M. (after a night of frequent rain) both thrashers came to me promptly for worms, both quite dry. They both gave me a mild surprise by gathering nothing but lining material, and my first thought was that, after all, this nest may be only another of their reflexes. However, when I looked at the structure, and saw that it was so dense that I could only get a glimpse, now and then, through the chinks, of a worker inside, I realized that they have been making rapid progress and lining is in order. For this pair, at least, this is unusually fast work, for which Brownie deserves most credit. If the egg machinery is operative, we should have eggs in February. To facilitate matters, I gathered soap-root fibre and placed it