WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 971 
species of thrasher found in California are a little puz- 
zling. Of them all, the Californian Thrasher is the most 
widely distributed and best known. In form, habit, and 
song he is very like the Eastern bird, except that his 
tones have a metallic quality entirely lacking in that of 
the brown thrasher. 
The young Thrashers leave the nest when twelve to 
fourteen days old, but are fed by the adults for some 
time after. I have found the male caring for a fully 
fledged brood, while his mate was sitting on a nestful 
of eggs; and after this second series were hatched, he at 
once began to feed them as faithfully as he had fed the 
first. Even with all this, he one day managed to sing a 
very short, low monologue which had in it the sugges- 
tion of all his old-time ardor. 
Both sexes assist in the construction of the bulky 
nest, and both brood on the eggs. In fourteen days the 
naked pink young emerge from the shells and are fed 
by regurgitation for four days, or until their eyes open. 
By regurgitation, in such cases, [ mean that the food is 
swallowed by the adults first, though it may or may 
not be partially digested by them. I believe it is not 
digested, but is swallowed for the purpose of softening 
and moistening it. After the fourth or fifth day, how- 
ever, large insects are given to the young, having been 
first carefully denuded of wings, legs, ete. Young 
Thrashers, while less voracious than young robins, yet 
require their meals at short intervals, and long after they 
are out of the nest the overgrown fledglings follow the 
adults about begging for food. But they soon learn to 
