to identify the bird as a thrasher on first hearing it. As to which thrasher is the better singer, de gustibus non est disputandum. Phainopepla at Paicines. As we passed through Paicines on our return, Dr. Reynolds saw a phainopepla, but I was too busy watching the road to look at it. On our return he looked it up in Dawson and found that he reports it on the authority of Malliard as wintering along the coastal ranges to Paicines. Feb.14th. and 15th. Affairs as usual in the local thrasher and road-runner cosmos. Thrasher nest visited occasionally by B. Feb.16th. Ditto. Frequent full song by B at random intervals. This morning Rhody greeted me with a soft rattle of the beak instead of his whine--the first for many days. R's "rattle" This rattle serves as a greeting, as a sign of fear or displeasure and perhaps also of pleasure. It varies in intensity from a sound so soft as to be heard only a yard or two--when it sounds as if made by lips instead of a horny beak -- up to one that may be heard a hundred yards or more. It is not made often, sometimes not for days. It is sometimes a rattle only, sometimes with an aspiration and at others with a loud book! He has not been heard to sing since last noted herein. R here 10 months. He has been here now 10 months. Feb.17th. Usual thrasher song. R resumes song. Rhody also began to sing at about 7:30 A.M. 10:45. R has been singing almost continuously at short intervals up till now. Got movie of him singing from topmost snag of the old oak at 9:30. Ditto stills. When I came in to change a film he moved to the roof overhead, singing there for about an