BROWN THRASHER 95 



Browist Thrasher. Toxostoma rufum 



11.42 



Ad. — Upper parts reddish-brown ; wing-bars wLite; bill long, 

 slightly curved; tail very long; under parts white; breast, belly, 

 and sides of the throat spotted with black. 



Nest, of coarse twigs, on the ground, or in a low bush. Eggs, 

 white, thickly speckled with reddish-brown. 



The Brown Thrasher, or Brown Thrush, is a common 

 summer resident of southern New England and the lower 

 Hudson Valley ; it becomes less common on the upland of 

 central New England and is absent from all the less culti- 

 vated northern portions of New York and New England. 

 It arrives toward the middle of April and remains till Octo- 

 ber. It frequents dry, scrubby growth, roadside thickets 

 and overgrown pastures, scratching on the ground and slip- 

 ping into the bushes when alarmed, with the ease of its com- 

 panion the Chewink ; it may often be seen running in the 

 roads. When a pair have a nest or a young bird hidden in 

 a thicket, they manifest great excitement at the approach of 

 an intruder, uttering a loud smack and a mournful ti-yoo-oo, 

 or a puffing or hissing sound. The yellow eye seems to 

 glare at such times. The male sings from a high perch, 

 often the uppermost spray of a tall tree, with tail depressed. 

 The song is the most brilliant performance given by our 

 New England birds, a succession of finely executed phrases, 

 very often in pairs, and of great variety. Thoreau's phrasing 

 of it is, '•' Drop it, drop it, — cover it up, cover it up, — 

 pull it up, pull it up, pull it up." 



A Brown Thrasher is readily told by the reddish-brown 

 color of its upper parts and by its long tail. 



Catbird. Galeoscoptes carolinensis 



8.94 



Ad. — Entire body slaty gray, except the liead and tail, which 

 are black ; feathers under base of tail chestnut. 



Nest, of sticks, in a thick bush. Eggs, glossy greenish-blue. 



