those inner portions that showed little evidence of the presence of tar. I examined the rejected piece, but could see only a slight darkening at one point and there was little, if any, odor of tar perceptible to me; although the rope was smelly of something else. During the rest of the day Rhody gave most of his attention to the nest; he was satisfied with only one mouse. April 12th. This was another day of "nest consciousness" on the part of Rhody. I judge he sat in it as much as he would have done had he been doing his share of incubation, and it may be that his instincts tell him that he should be doing just that. During the forenoon he was especially bright and animated when out of the nest and seemed to want some particular kind of material for nest lining. In search of it, whatever it was, he ran from place to place examining many kinds of things rejecting, after picking them up and sometimes carrying them some distance toward the nest: Felted azalea roots, rope fibre, cotton batting, even his favored composite weed, pine needles and miscellaneous trash. At last he pulled something out from the base of a baccharis bush that he took to the nest. It proved to be dried stalks of that mesembry- anthemum that nurserymen and florists sell under the name of During the forenoon he wanted no mice, but seemed to seek my presence and was eager for worms. He was also inclined to cut up didoes and once, when he had just entered the cage after carrying a piece of cotton about 75 yards on a dead run, he came out, ran di- rectly toward me at high speed, spread his wings when ten feet from me and sailed exactly over my head almost touching my hat, and landed 20 feet behind me. It developed that he wanted to go to the nest in a hurry and I was directly in his path. He has never done this act before. At 12:30 he was ready for his mouse, but wanted no more do thereafter, although he accompanied me to the tool-house and in- spected my offerings only to turn away disinterestedly. At 5:30 he was again in his nest l-38, but, as usual, did not sleep there. (But see below). The thrashers progressively extend their periods of absence from the nest, although they may sit not far away doing little. It looks as if they were purposely "weaning" the youngsters. While they seldom come to me for worms when invited, they are showing that there is a limit to the amount of food they will give the chicks, and Neo is now eating some of the worms given him. Curiously, although he and N2 are getting worms primarily for the purpose of feeding the young, Neo still insists upon getting all the worms if he can. April 13th. Rhody is moulting. Not only are his feathers being found at places about the garden where there were none previously, but they are seen dropping off of him. The news about Rhody today is that, at last, he has been seen occupying his nest l-38 in his new house at night. As it is diffi- cult to be absolutely certain of his presence there when he is sit- ting very low in the nest, a check was made by observing that he was absent from his regular place on the west lot.