i8o 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Co\or.—.lbove, plain dull ciiinainon-rufous, becoming 

 paler over eye and on notched terninial portion of 

 outer webs of primaries; iniddle and greater wing- 

 coverts tipped with white (spring and summer) or pale 

 bufif (autumn and winter), producing two distinct 

 bands across wing, each white or bufTy band immedi- 

 ately preceded by a narrower and less distinct one of 

 dusky; outermost tail-feathers indistinctly tipped with 

 buflf (worn away in summer plumage) ; sides of head, 

 light rusty-brown, narrowly streaked with dull whitish ; 

 cheeks, dull white, usually flecked with brown or dusky, 

 especially on rear portion ; under parts, pale buff, 

 approaching buffy-white on chin, throat, and abdomen 

 (entirely buff in fresh autumnal and early winter 

 plumage), the chest, sides, and flanks broadly streaked 

 with brown or dusky, the streaks smaller and narrowly 

 wedge-shaped on upper chest, broader on sides of 

 breast, longer flanks ; throat margined along each side 

 by a series of blackish streaks, forming a stripe; bill, 

 dusky ; iris, bright lemon or sulphur-yellow. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In clusters of thorny 

 vines, within a few feet of the ground, sometimes on 

 it, occasionally in trees, seldom in open situations, out- 

 of-the-way, quiet localities being preferred; a rather 

 flat, loosely constructed structure exteriorly composed 

 of twigs, rootlets, leaves, hair, together with some 

 feathers. Eciis : 3 to 5, varying from pale greenish- 

 white to pale buff, profusely speckled with minute 

 spots of reddish-brown, evenly over entire surface, 

 more rarely forming a wreath around larger end. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States and south- 

 eastern Canada; northward to southern Maine, Ver- 

 mont, New York, northern Ontario, Manitoba and 

 Saskatchewan ; breeding southward to northern Florida, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Texas, westward to 

 base of Rocky Mountains in Montana, Wyoming, and 

 Colorado ; wintering from North Carolina, southeastern 

 Missouri, etc. (more rarely farther northward) to 

 southern Florida and south-central Texas ; accidental 

 in Arizona and Europe. 



The term " thrush," which is frequently ap- 

 plied to this bird, is another of the many inis- 

 nomers in popular ornithological terminology, 

 as the bird is not a " thrush " at all, but a mem- 

 ber of a totally different family, called Munldcr. 

 In point of fact, about the only resemblance be- 

 tween the Thrashers and other birds commonly 

 called Thrushes is that all show more or less 

 brown in their plutnage and have speckled breasts. 

 Right there the outward similarity may be said 

 to end ; for certainly in their general form and 

 size (not to mention their habits) there is a 

 wide difference between the smaller Thrushes, 

 with their comparatively short tails and small, 



plump bodies, and the long-tailed, long-billed 

 and relatively slender Thrashers. 



The term " Thrasher " probably is due to the 

 bird's vigorous twitching about of his long tail, 

 a performance which is characteristic especially 

 when he is nervous or angry, and with which he is 

 likely to emphasize certain notes of his song. 

 The movement is also suggestive — to a suffici- 

 ently fertile imagination — of the flail in the 

 primitive method of thrashing grain. Another 

 explanation — humorous, of course — comes 

 from Mr. Job, who says: "I used to wonder 

 whv the bird was called a Thrasher. But after 

 I had actually received a real thrashing from a 



Drawing by R. I .Brasher 



BROWN THRASHER ( S nat. size) 

 A gifted singer and a brave defender of his home 



