ORNITHOLOGY 



77 



All communications for this department 

 shoulf! be sent to the Department Editor. 

 Mr. Harrv G. Highee, i.i Austin Street, 

 Hyde Park, Massachusetts. Items, articles 

 and photographs in this department not 

 otherwise credited are by the Department 

 Editor 



The Brown Thrasher. 



V-\ T.. W. r.KOWXKLL, IWTERSOX, N. J. 



The brown thrasher is a not uncom- 

 mon resident of the entire eastern 

 portion of the United States, but owing- 

 to tbe fact tbat he is of a somewhat 

 shy and retirino- chsposition he is bv 

 no means one of the l^est known of our 

 birds to tbe casual observer. He is a 

 close relative of the much better known 

 catbird and closely resembles him in 

 shape but not in coloration and is a 

 considerably larg-er bird. He is also 

 a relative of the famous mockingbird of 

 the South and is himself a mocker 

 of no mean oretensions. He is. 

 in fact, one of the most accomplished 

 song-sters of all our feathered choir but 

 he is an extremely diffident performer 

 and will not sing a note if he thinks 

 he has a human audience. Owing- to 

 this there are many people, I have 

 learned, that, while knowing the bird, 

 are totally ignorant of his reputation 

 as a songster and even regard him as 

 being- limited in his vocal power to the 

 harsh and most unmusical note to 

 which he gives utterance when angry 

 or alarmed. 



His song, in its easv flow and mel- 

 ody, somewhat resembles that of the 

 catbird. It is a distinctly finer per- 

 formance, however, and has the added 

 charm of originality for the thrasher 

 depends but little upon his mocking 

 abilities while the catbird, as does the 

 mocker, steals the theme of his song 

 boldly from the notes of other birds. 



Nuttall says of this song: 



"Stationed in the top of some tall 

 orchard or forest tree, the male, gay 

 and animated, salutes the morn of his 

 arrival 'vith his loud and charming- 

 song. His voice somewhat resembles 

 that of the thrush of Europe but far 



more varied and powerful rises pre- 

 eminent among all the vocal choir of 

 the forest. His music has the full 

 charin of innate originality ; he takes 

 no delight in mimicry, and has, there- 

 fore, no title to the name of mocking- 

 bird. (He is called in the southern- 

 states the French mocker.) On his 

 first appearance he falters in his song, 

 like the nightingale, but when his 

 mate commences her cares and labors,, 

 his notes attain all their vigor and 

 variety. The young birds, even of the 

 first season, in a state of solitary do- 

 mestication, without the aid of the 

 T^arent's voice, already whisper forth 

 in harmonious revery the pathetic and 

 sweet warble, instinctive of the species. 

 In the month of May, while the bloom- 

 ing orchards perfume and decorate the 

 landscape, the enchanting voice of the 

 thrasher, in his affectionate lay, seems 

 to give grateful utterance for the 

 bounty and teeming profusion of na- 

 ture, and falls in pleasing unison with 

 the harmonv and beauty of the sea- 

 son." 



Nuttall found something beautiful in 

 the notes of nearly every one of our 

 birds, and went into rhapsodies over 

 many of them, often allowing his en- 

 thusiasm to carry him to extremes. In- 

 this case, however, his praise was not- 

 misdirected or too profuse. The 

 thrasher gives his performance almost 

 invariably froin the topmost branches 

 of the taller trees, and usually at or 

 near the edge of the woods. In such 

 a position he will sit for hours, pouring 

 forth his delightful song, not actually 

 as a continuous performance, but with 

 occasional intermissions for rest, until 

 the too close approach of some stran- 

 ger causes his diffidence to assert it- 

 self. Then he will suddenly cease his 

 melody and dive from his elevated 

 perch and seek shelter in the dense 

 underbrush beneath or in some near-by 

 thicket or brush pile. His song is well 

 worth listening to but we will never 

 hear it by .waiting in our front door- 

 yards for the singer to come to vis. We 



