me that the feathers may have been structurally weak at the points where they have failed due to a period of defective nutrition ex- perienced by the bird while they were growing out, and that they have been unable to stand up under stress of fighting and contact with obstructions. Notwithstanding the squally day and the unfavorable wind direction Neo has remained near ( or sometimes in) his nest most of the day (4:50 P.M.). Rhody seems to have kept mostly to the brush on the west lot. About 4 o'clock Julio went down to look for him and Rhody came up behind him and cried for his mouse and was accommodated. At 6:16 P.M. Neo was singing off to the west. He therefore was singing after sunset, but by a narrow margin. March 13th. (Sunrise 6:26, sunset 6:14). A night of heavy rain, but Neo was singing to the west at 6:00 A.M., anticipating "sunrise" by a wide margin. 12:40 P.M. Up till now there has been a succession of rains (and one heavy hail storm) with periods of bright sunshine in between when roofs and ground have steamed. At about 9 A.M. Rhody's song was heard nearer and nearer. (First unrequested song for several days). We met at the entrance where he caught worms dexterously while warming his back. Now followed a half hour of song spaced two to four to the minute. A heavy shower and he hurried to his shelter under the old oak, although he was sitting near his house in the eucalyptus when it commenced. The two refuges are not within sight of each other. I gave him a mouse, which he carried about until about 10 o'clock before eating it; several times he had taken it to his nest. On one of his trips he attempted to pick up nesting material while still holding the mouse, but abandoned the effort. Meanwhile Neo and his mate were off to the east in the brush on the south-facing north bank. About 11 o'clock Neo returned when I whistled and spent the next hour with or near me, eating worms and singing. I no longer have to guess at the number of rectrices left in his tail. (of full length). The answer is one and that one is bent at right angles and will not last long--perhaps it is off already. He is now the first bob-tailed thrasher of my acquaintance in ad- ult plumage. Roughly, I estimate his tail is now about one third or less its normal length--perhaps two inches or less long. While I was feeding him he talked; so I suppose N2 was some- where near. When he mounted to a rose-bush on the fence twenty feet away to sing loudly, she came, but from the opposite direction, and to me, not to him. He could not see her from his perch and she seemed to pay no attention to him whatsoever. I stuffed her well with meal-worms, and Neo continued his song, facing away from both of us. While this was going on Rhody could be seen 40 feet away in. a fit of exhibitionism at the entrance. Tiring of this, he unex- pectedly appeared between N2 and me, made a playful feint at her and passed on without breaking his stride. Neo still continued his song directing it apparently to the east, as if supposing N2 to be off there where both had been a little earlier. I was almost certain that he was unaware of her presence, but when the milk-delivery truck roared up the driveway not over 20 feet from either bird, both fled momentarily only to reappear shortly together. Neo now certainly knew his mate was here, but