the drumming of the male as follows: "After strutting back and forth for a few 

 minutes, the male flew straight up, as high as the surrounding trees, about four- 

 teen feet ; here he remained stationary an instant, and while on suspended wing 

 did the drumming with the wings, resembling distant thunder, meanwhile drop- 

 ping down slowly to the spot from where he started, to repeat the same thing 

 over and over again." 



The Canada Grouse is easily domesticated and would make an interesting and 

 amiable bird pet, because of their peculiar habits. 



The Brown Thrush or Thrasher the King 



of Singers 



By W. H. Pomeroy, Stamford 



As I was sitting on a stump by the beautiful Rippowam, one Sunday after- 

 noon early in May, listening to the purling of the waters as they hurried toward 

 Long Island Sound, suddenly to my ears came an exquisite melody filled with 

 joyous gladsomeness, gurgling, trilling, warbling, lilting, rollicking along in an 

 abandoned fashion. Recognizing the singer by his song, I made my way through 

 the brush and soon reached an opening, across which, perched on the tip of a 

 forty foot tree, and in the midst of his joyous fanfare of melody, sat a beautiful 

 specimen of North America's famous song bird, the brown thrush or "thrasher." 



South of Mason and Dixon's line you will be told that the mocking bird 

 is the world's most famous singer. I have listened to him in his gilded cage 

 and in his native wilds, and I note this difiference between him and his northern 

 cousin. When one has listened to the mocking bird for ten or fifteen minutes, 

 one has heard about all of his repertoire. Listen to the brown thrush for half 

 an hour today, and again tomorrow, and again the day after, and you will have 

 only just begun to appreciate his marvelous versatility as an imitator of other 

 birds, to say nothing of hi?; own variations which he adds ad libitum, never seem- 

 ing to tire. 



In the order of the excellence of their singing, the brown thrush should be 

 accorded first place, while his modest little cousin, the catbird, easily takes second 

 place, and the mocking bird stands third on the list. All three are "mockers" 

 and seem to be distant cousins. They have many characteristics in general. The 

 brown thrush however has one trait that dififerentiatcs him from the other two, 

 a characteristic which concerns his domestic relations and is not generally known 

 even by bird lovers. In fact I have seen no reference to it in the difi'erent books 

 that I have consulted on the subject. 



For several seasons I was puzzled by the name "thrasher" given to him by 

 country people. Numerous inquiries elicited nothing by way of explanation, 

 except that one bewhiskered old fellow said, "They thrash the ground, and that 



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