368 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUAI 



gotten. Almost eveiy writer on American birds has commented on ii 

 and mostly favorably. 



Dr. Winsor M. Tyler has given me his impression of it as follows : 

 "The song of the brown thrasher is a brilliant performance, equaled, 

 if judged solely by its technical skill, by few North American birds, 

 and surpassed by perhaps only one, the mockingbird. Indeed, it is 

 sometimes difficult to distinguish the song of a thrasher, if an excep- 

 tionally fine singer, from that of mockingbird. 



"The thrasher's song is made up of a long series of short, sparkling 

 phrases given rapidly, sometimes repeated two or three times in quick 

 succession, but as the song goes on it displays a great variety of 

 phrases. To sing, the thrasher mounts to a conspicuous perch where, 

 with the tail pointing to the ground, a characteristic pose of the wrens 

 while singing, he devotes himself to his song, pouring out his loud, 

 spirited concert, like a vocalist singing a solo. 



"In Massachusetts the thrasher sings from its arrival late in April, 

 with marked diminution during the nesting season, to the first week 

 in July. After this time it becomes silent and inconspicuous, and we 

 see it chiefly as a flash of cinnamon as it retires into the shrubbery." 



Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1924) writes the following appreciative 

 note on the thrasher's song : 



The Brown Thrasher, a near relative of the Mockingbird, has a more con- 

 tinuous song and, at its best, one of great beauty and power not marred by 

 harsh or disagreeable notes. His song consists of a series of couplets with here 

 and there an enthusiastic triplet or even a quadruplet. It is an inventive song. 

 He is consistently improvising, but there is often the suggestion of mimicry as 

 the song wanders on and new phrases appear and are repeated. It is rare, how- 

 ever, that one can recognize the source of the mimicry. I have detected the 

 call of the Bob-white and the melody of the Robin, the Bobolink and the Veery, 

 but mimicry is not needed to complete the perfection of his song. He generally 

 avoids vulgar plagiarism, but doubtless profits by the musical suggestions of 

 other birds. 



W. L. McAtee (1940b) says: "I was much interested in the op- 

 portunity afforded me near Vienna, Va., in June 1940 to make obser- 

 vations on a mimicking thrasher {Toxostoma imfum). On a few 

 occasions the song, beginning with imitations of some shrill-noted 

 species suggested that of a Mockingbird until it lapsed into the 

 gutturals and more deliberate phrasing characteristic of the thrasher's 

 music. The birds that were imitated were all species commonly heard 

 on the spot and included the Flicker, Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, 

 Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Wood Thrush." 



Aretas A. Saunders (MS.) says: "The thrasher does not imitate 

 birds frequently, and I believe only a few individuals do so, whereas 

 many catbirds and practically all mockingbirds do so. I have heard 

 the thrasher imitate the phoebe, robin, wood thrush, white-eyed vireo. 



