46 LAND-BIRDS. 



also correspond closely to those of their relation. The " Song 

 Thrushes " reach the neighborhood of Boston more often in 

 the first than in the second week of May, or perhaps most often 

 in the last week of April, and are common summer residents 

 throughout southern New England, many not withdrawing 

 until October. They are rare, however, in northern Vermont, 

 New Hampshire, and Maine. Though on their arrival one may 

 often see them on cultivated estates and near houses, yet they 

 almost invariably, so far as I know, pass their summers in that 

 species of shrubbery known as " scrub," or in low cedar 

 woods, where underbrush abounds, and are much less familiar 

 toward man than are their relations the Catbirds. They feed 

 upon berries, caterpillars, wasps, or beetles, and, while en- 

 gaged in procuring them, may often be seen moving from bush 

 to bush, with a characteristic flight, and with their long tails 

 so outspread as to be very conspicuous. When they perch, the 

 '' Thrashers " flirt or depress their tails in the manner of the 

 last species, to whom I have already referred ; and they like- 

 wise are very bold in the defense of their nest, often hissing 

 with the vehemence of a pugnacious goose. They frequently 

 have refused to leave their nests on my approach, unless to 

 fly at me in a way which used to frighten me heartil}^ when 

 young. They are so brave and at the same time so unsociable 

 as rarely or never to congregate, either for the sake of mutual 

 protection or of companionship. They may be seen, however, 

 in pairs, rustling loudly among the dead leaves, or hopping 

 along the ground with remarkable agility. I have called them 

 " brave," and yet, when their young are reared, they resume 

 their natural shyness, avoid man, and on his approach dis- 

 appear in the surrounding shrubbery ; but the instinct of 

 motherhood can inspire bravery in those habitually timid, 

 when emergencies occur which require courage. 



c?. The loud chuch of the Brown Thrushes, their inde- 

 scribable note of alarm or displeasure, and their song are all, 

 as has been intimated, much like those of the Catbird. Their 

 song is very pleasing, being loud, emphatic, and wonderfully 

 varied ; so much so that it is sometimes well-nigh impossible 

 to believe that one bird can produce such widely different 



