MOCKERS AND SCOLDERS 



139 



have taken the name of Thrasher, but that 

 is doubtfuL The Mockingbird thrashes 

 about in his cage ; the Brown Thrasher 

 on the ground under the bushes ; the 

 House Wren does the same, and the 

 tiny Winter Wren gives his tail 

 a jerk instead, for it is not 

 long enough ^ really thrash." 



'' There is a bright-brown 

 bird beating with his tail, 

 down under the quince bushes 

 now," said Dodo. " Is that 

 some kind of a cousin ? " 



" It's a Song Thrush," said 

 Rap. 



'' Or rather what the Wise 

 Men call a Brown Thrasher," 

 said the Doctor ; " the very 

 bird of which I was speaking." 



"Who are the Wise Men?" 

 asked Rap. 



" A society of House People 

 who study American birds and decide by wliat name it 

 is best to call each species, so that each may be known 

 everywhere by the same name. This Brown Thrasher 

 is sometimes called Song Thrush, Brown Thrush, Brown 

 Mockingbird, and Mavis — though the first and the last 

 of these four names belong only to a kind of European 

 Thrush that is never found in tliis country. You see 

 how confusing this is, and how mucli better it is for the 

 Wise Men, who know him intimatel}', to give him one 

 name you can be sure is right." 



