BROWN THRASHER 359 



"produced a brood of young successfully, which left the nest on June 

 15. On June 17 they began a second nest. Incubation of the second 

 set began on June 24." 



Nesting sites in the South are apparently similar to those in the 

 Midwest — ^liedges, shrubbery, brush heaps, thickets, grapevine tangles, 

 vines, and trees. A. H. Howell (1932) states that "Nicholson found 

 a number of nests at Orlando [Florida] in oak and orange trees, 8 to 

 20 feet above the ground." Frederick V. Hebard mentions in his 

 notes from southeastern Georgia a nest in a "sea-myrtle bush about 20 

 inches above ground. This nest was badly constructed of dried grass 

 supported by twigs, one of which was over 14 inches long. Corn husks 

 were in the nest. The nest had an inside diameter of 3% inches, an 

 inside depth of seven-eighths inch, and an outside depth of 3% inches." 

 Another nest was in a camphor tree, 7 feet above ground. 



Eggs. — Nearly all the nests of the brown thrasher of which I have 

 record contained either 4 or 5 eggs, generally 4 ; the one set of 6 eggs 

 in my collection was evidently the product of 2 females. Eggs were 

 laid in 52 of the nests examined by Dr. Erwin (1935) in Tennessee; 

 31 contained 4 eggs, 13 contained 3 eggs, 7 contained 5 eggs, and one 

 contained only 2 eggs. Six eggs have been recorded. 



The eggs are not handsome, but they show considerable variation 

 in color and shape; they are usually ovate, but some are somewhat 

 elongated and some are short-ovate. The ground color is very pale 

 blue, bluish white, or white, with sometimes a greenish tinge. They 

 are usually rather evenly covered, more or less thickly, with very 

 small spots or fine dots of reddish brown or duller browns. Some- 

 times the markings are so small, scarce, and faint as to make the egg 

 appear almost white. Very rarely a set of eggs is immaculate. Occa- 

 sionally the markings are grouped in a ring around one end. A rare 

 and handsome type has a darker green ground color, with bright red- 

 dish spots. The measurements of 50 eggs in the United States 

 National Museum average 26.5 by 19.4 millimeters ; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 30.2 by 19.8, 26.7 by 21.3, and 21.3 by 16.3 

 millimeters. 



Young. — The period of incubation is stated by several observers to 

 vary from 11 to 14 days, according to weather temperatures and 

 other conditions. Dr. Erwin (1935) says: "Of the 32 nests in which 

 eggs were laid on Peabody Campus, only 17 were successfully incu- 

 bated. Nine of these required a period of 13 days, six 12 days, one 

 11 days, and one 14 days. The set of eggs which required 14 days was 

 in an early nest." Both sexes shared in the duties of incubation. 

 During a period of 14 hours 15 minutes, the female incubated 9 hours 

 11 minutes; and the male sat 3 hours 51 minutes, about 27 percent of 

 the total time, perhaps to give the female a chance to feed. "For 12 

 successful nests on Peabody Campus, the average nestling period was 



