1489 to forget its existence. When he sees me completely hide it under a hand in my lap, he makes strenuous efforts to get at it by pecking and pulling at my fingers. In this last act the curve of his bill is seen to be of importance, as he hooks his bill over a finger and pulls hard without its slipping off. Thrushes are now haunting the vicinity of the oval lawn regularly and song is being restored at this place. They are moving in. If this is a permanent immigration, what will happen when O and C are released? On projecting a motion picture film just received from the processor (exposed July 6th.) I received a surprise. The film shows a parent coming to the nest, feeding one chick. This chick then defecates. The parent reaches down takes the faecal matter and feeds it immediately to the other nestling! In connection with Brownie and his numerous nesting activities it has been shown that the parents eat the droppings instead of carrying them away, and that, on at least one occasion, the other parent reached across the nest and "asked" its mate for the matter thus salvaged, and was promptly accommodated and ate it at once as if it were desirable food. All of this suggested that the digestive processes of the chicks were incomplete and that their faeces contained food elements attractive to the parents. It further suggest that this is a provision of nature to insure proper soav- enging of the nest. The instance noted of the thrush carries similar implications, although it is not known that it represents standard behavior, of course. Incidentally it also shows the value of motion pictures as an aid in the study of life history. The only place from which the interior of the nest could be seen (while the parents were at the nest) was 12 feet from the nest at a point on the parapet of the tool-house roof. At that distance--the nest being usually in deep shadow--only the fact that a reflected beam of light was thrown into it and a telephoto lens was used on the camera made it possible to record (or even observe in detail) this be- havior. July 18th. 10:30 A.M. There has been almost continuous thrasher song since early in the morning: mostly in the vicinity of the oval lawn. The performer was seen to be Broken-Wing. This bird also has never heard of my gentlemen's agreement with Brownie designed to insure the integrity of the greensward, or if so: disregards it --perhaps on a technicality. However, the moths which presumably are responsible for cut worms (?) have been observed at night for the past couple of weeks hovering over and on this grass patch. Neighbors (as these notes show) have complained of the ravages of these worms upon their lawns. Since I have not had this trouble, I have recommended to them that they engage thrashers to attend to the matter, stating that thrashers--on a well established lawn-- do little damage, and that for but a brief period in the year. The holes they make, on such a lawn, are of about the same order of magnitude as a gardener would make in removing small weeds. (But a new lawn!). Again Rhody was not seen until early afternoon, when he ap- peared on top of the cage, later helping himself to meat and doing the usual things. About 4:30 P.M. four visitors wished to see him. He was then north of the fence in the baccharis, but Thrush feeds nestling with faeces.