but it was bright and sunny again in half an hour. In the meantime, while N2 was on the nest, I had given Neo a good feed of meal worms and he did not take any to his mate. I went out again about 10 A.M., finding Rhody on his way to the sage-patch to sun his back. Neo discovered me there and came for worms; Rhody, hearing an outcry from the magpies, ran to the cage to continue his scrutiny of them. I went to get more worms for Neo and, on returning, found him bathing in the rain that accumulated upon the leaves of the honey- suckle, just as if he were in a pool of water. I do not remember having seen a thrasher do this before, although it is not uncommon here on the part of some other birds. He promptly accepted my in- vitation to have more worms and, again, took none to his mate. A half hour afterwards I again gave him worms. Two of these he carried toward the nest, which I reached first. When he arrived he no longer had the worms and change of shift was made without comment by either bird. March 25th. to 27th., incl. clear These three days were brilliantly from sunrise to sunset, with occasional winds from the north keeping temperatures down to maxima in the low seventies. The thrashers incubated faithfully; but it is the male, Neo, who appears to have the greater sense of responsibility toward the obligations of prospective parenthood. Thus, N2 seldom has to call for relief as Neo generally takes charge after relatively short ab- sences and goes to the nest quickly when on his way there. N2, however, frequently has to be called four or five times in 15 min- utes before she appears, and then she dawdles along, stretching, preening, pecking at the ground and wiping her bill, taking a round- about course through the shrubbery. As an illustration: On the 27th., about 1 P.M., I went to the nest to watch change of shift. Neo had been calling several times at 3 to 4 minutes intervals. He continued to call melodiously at about the same rate, as I sat nearby. In about 10 minutes more I could see N2 coming in the manner described, eventually taking the nest. Neo went at once to the soft-food dish and ate heartily. He then came to me for a few worms. The last one he held a moment in his bill, uttered the "blue-bird" call, started toward the nest; ate the worm before getting there, and immediately resumed incubation as N2 stepped out. He had been out of the nest only about 3 minutes and apparently was under no obligation to take up the task again so soon. However, it should be noted that he had eaten his fill in this short period and this suggests that the stimulus which caused him to call for relief was not weariness of the task, but hunger, and that as soon as this was satisfied, he went cheerfully back to the job of his own free-will. I suppose Nature has so arranged matters that incubation evokes a sense of well-being in the bird--the bird likes to incubate --when not under stress to provide for its own bodily needs at the time. (If such be the case, then why did N2 give up this pleasant occupation so readily after only 3 minutes?) During this period Rhody was not heard to sing at all. In the mornings, about 7 or 7:15, he was generally near or in the nest, and did some work lining the structure. Once he was seen to use part of an old plain titmouse nest for the purpose, which Julio had thrown upon the ground in cleaning out the titmouse house. I gather- ed up the remnants of this nest and placed it in four piles near