THE CONDOR 
| Voi.. VIII 
48 
even they would take a drink at the new howl and then hurry back to the old one 
two or three times before they would decide to take a regular bath in the new. In 
the cut (the third in this article) the queer perpendicular line at the right 
shoulder of the bird showing full front is a drop falling from the bamboo used to 
lead the water from the hydrant. 
In another part of the grounds was a small mortar under the drip of a faucet 
which was mostly in the shade. This was on a lawn under some large pine trees, 
where there were chairs, a hammock, etc., and usually people reading or chatting 
in rather close proximity to it; and yet it was a much sought-after watering and 
bathing place for certain birds. The bowl was comparatively deep tho of 
small diameter, and the smaller visitors performed their ablutions rather hurriedly 
in consequence, their actions giving one the idea of lading in and scrambling out 
again time after time. As they could not touch bottom with their feet this was in 
fact just what they did, tho of course not by accident. 
The most interesting frequenter of this particular spot was a Pasadena 
thrasher (Toxostoma redivivum pasadenensc ). Somehow one not living in the hab- 
itat of thrashers does not associate them with such things as baths, after meeting 
them principally out on sage-brush plains and far away from all water; and it 
always gave me a feeling of surprise to see one of these birds which had grown 
comparatively tame in the garden, giving himself the luxury of a cold plunge. He 
would not pay any attention to a person sitting quietly twenty-five or thirty 
feet away, tho always on the alert for any movement or approach on the part of 
the observer. 
On several occasions I came upon him suddenly as he was whacking away 
with his curved bill, making the dirt fly as he sought some dainty tid-bit in the 
loose earth of the garden bed, and it was comical to see him make a jump for the 
nearest protection, no matter how ridiculously inadequate it might be. Once, for 
instance, I came upon him at a distance of not over ten feet, when he immediately 
jumped for the stem of a rose bush not more than three quarters of an inch in 
diameter and perfectly straight. He snuggled up close behind this and seemed to 
believe himself absolutely hidden as he made no effort to move until I approached 
to half the distance when he darted away. Whether it was only one individual 
of this species in the garden or more that I constantly saw, there was no means of 
telling, but there were never two seen at once, and I believed that there was only 
one. Even late in the fall he would perch in the top of a tree and sing 
most gloriously. 
In September some mockingbirds arrived and tried to rival our thrasher’s 
song, and many times none of us dense mortals could distinguish which bird was 
giving 11s such a treat, many small bets being made as to the identity of the 
songsters. I seldom was sure myself unless I had my eye fixed on the performer. 
Once in a vacant lot nearby I heard a thrasher singing away on the top of a 
live oak, when some California woodpeckers alighted in the top of a neighboring syca- 
more and commenced their queer chattering to each other. Immediately I noticed a 
refrain in the thrasher’s song which was a good imitation of the woodpeckers’ notes. 
This seemed to please him so much that even after the woodpeckers had ceased their 
chatter and had flown away he kept repeating the imitation, weaving it in and 
out of his song, as it were. Wishing to be dead sure of the identity of the song- 
ster I crept close up to the tree and had the satisfaction of watching Mr. Thrasher 
for some minutes before he espied me. One of my great regrets of the past summer 
is that the above mentioned bathing place of the thrasher was so much in the shade 
