BROWN THRASHER 351 



cote, Panama, on the Pacific slope. The southernmost record is of 

 a specimen taken at Cienaga, Colombia, on March 23, 1917. 



A specimen was collected on October 28, 1840, on the island of 

 Helgoland, in the North Sea. 



Egg dates. — Colorado : 5 records. May 6 to July 3. 



Illinois: 58 records. May 18 to July 11; 33 records. May 26 to 

 June 10, indicating the height of the season. 



Massachusetts : 76 records. May 3 to August 15 ; 50 records. May 

 24 to June 5. 



Minnesota : 21 records. May 12 to June 28 ; 11 records, June 2 to 13. 



Washington : 4 records, June 15 to 28. 



West Virginia: 51 records. May 4 to June 22; 40 records, May 

 11 to 31. 



TOXOSTOMA RUFUM RUFUM (Linnaeus) 



BROWN THRASHER 



Plates 66-70 



HABITS 



The well-known and popular brown thrasher occurs over a wide 

 range in eastern North America, from southern Canada to the Gulf 

 coast and Florida, and from the base of the Eocky Mountains to the 

 Atlantic coast. The 1931 Check-list extends its breeding range south- 

 ward to central Florida, but now it is known to breed occasionally, 

 if not regularly, as far south as Miami. It breeds abundantly as far 

 south as Georgia. 



Its haunts, its habits, and to some extent its disposition vary some- 

 what in different portions of its range. These variations were first 

 called to our attention by Miss Althea R. Sherman (1912), who pub- 

 lished an interesting paper on the subject; the points that she sug- 

 gested will be referred to farther on. 



During some 60 years of acquaintance with the brown thrasher in 

 eastern Massachusetts, I have formed a somewhat different impression 

 of it from that gathered from the published accounts of it in more 

 western and southern regions. Ever since I was a small boy, the 

 catbird has lived and raised its young in my father's yard, and more 

 recently in my own yard, every year, and this close to the center of the 

 city of Taunton, almost within a stone's throw of brick and mortar. 

 But the thrasher never has nested here, and only on rare occasions 

 have I seen a straggler in my yard. And my experience has been 

 similar to that of other observers. Here the thrasher is essentially 

 a bird of the rural, woodland, and farming districts, living in bushy 

 pastures, sproutlands, brier patches, tangles along fences, dry thickets, 

 brushy hillsides, and the edges of woodlands, almost always far from 

 human habitations. On large estates and in parks or reservations, 

 where there are scattered woodlands and plenty of shrubbery, the 



