White-throated sparrow still here. Mar. llth. Rain during the forenoon; only the outskirts of the reported storm, so far, and with little wind, has reached us. About 11:10 A.M. I drove along the street by the west lot, returning from an absence of an hour or so. Rhody was near his post in the open about 100 feet away. I stopped and called to him. He located me at once, although he could not possibly see more than my called me at once, although he could not possibly see more than my head, cried, then came to the edge of the bank. I got out and tossed him a couple of dozen meal-worms, which he caught expertly one at a time. He was perfectly dry. A few minutes later I showed him the red box from the fence at the Clearing. He ran toward me, came over the fence and had his mouse, which he carried off with ceremony. While the red color of the box, naturally, was not the entire stimulus to which he reacted, it did not, at least, deter him from coming, and sufficient instances have been cited in these notes to show that the red-box has often proved the trigger that has released action by him when he had been hesitating whether or not to come to me. The object in referring to it here is not to attempt proof of the effect of red color upon him--this one instance proves nothing-- but to draw attention to the contrast between his behavior in the presence of red and that of Archie and Terry at a time in their careers when red must have been a novel sensation to them. While I was engaged with Rhody, Neo was singing loudly over at the Robinsons'. I went to his nest and whistled Brownie's "purple, one, two, three" call. This brought him home fro about 175 yards away, shortly followed by N2. He was given meal worms while N2 watched. Soon he picked up a few soap-root fibres and took them to his nest and sat there while N2 came for her share of worms. Neo, about 6 feet to my right, now began to call loudly from the nest in musical phrases. I think he could not see N2, who paid no visible attention whatever until she had enough worms; she then joined hi Both birds were dry; but Neo's tail is rapidly "getting no better fast". Most of the rectrices are now broken off entirely and appear as stubs of half their normal length or less. I can not be certain that he has more than one full-length feather left in his tail. This mutilation, together with the scarcity of feathers on the back of his neck and general mussed-up appearance may be due in part to his labors in thrusting passageway through tangled growth in nest building; but I am strongly inclined to the view that it is mostly due to fighting and that he has not had a clear field in his court- ship.* (See back notes for example of thrashers pushing each other over backward when fighting: something not good for tail feathers). Neo and N2 both in nest at same time. 12:50 P.M. I went to the thrasher nest and was surprised to see it occupied by a thrasher that apparently had a head at each end of its body and no tail; Neo and N2 both in it at the same time, looking solemn but comfortable. An hour later only Neo was in the nest, but N2 was foraging about nearby. (Calm, cloudy, 57°). *But see notes of Mar. 12.