Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rujum) 



By W. Leon Dawson 



Length — About 11 inches. 



Range — Eastern United States west to the Rocky Mountains ; north to 

 Maine, Ontario and Manitoba. Breeds from Gulf States to southern Canada 

 and west to Colorado, Wyoming and Montana; winters in the southern half 

 of eastern United States. 



The last of this splendid trio of mocking singers is even more secretive 

 than all the others in its ordinary habits, and bolder yet in song. Early in 

 the spring the Thrashers steal northward up the river valleys, skulking along 

 fence-rows or hiding in brush-heaps and tangles, and rarely discovering 

 themselves to human eyes until the breeding ground is reached. Here, too, 

 if the weather is unpropitious, they will mope and lurk silently; but as soon 

 as the south wind repeats the promise of spring the Thrasher mounts a tree- 

 top and clears his throat for action. 



Choosing usually a spot a little way removed from the road, the singer 

 sends his voice careering over field and meadow, lane and wood-lot, till all 

 may hear him for a hundred rods around. What a magnificent aria he sings ! 

 Precise, no doubt, and conscious, but it is full-voiced and powerful. Now and 

 then he lapses into mimicry, but for the most part his notes are his own — 

 piquant, incisive, peremptory, stirring. There is in them the gladness of the 

 open air, the jubilant boasting of a soul untamed. Each phrase is repeated 

 twice. 



"That's the wise thrush ; he sings each song twice over, 

 Lest you think he never could recapture 

 The first fine careless rapture." 



He opens his bill wide, his body vibrates with emotion, and each note is 

 graced by a compensating movement of the drooping tail. 



Altho the Brown Thrasher does not make such hopeless confusion of 

 jest and earnest as does the Catbird, there is still something of the buflfoon 

 about him, and his ways in the bush are not altogether above criticism. 

 Possibly with the best motives, but still in a very annoying fashion, the bird 

 sneaks about through the brush and insists upon knowing your business. 

 From time to time it utters a sharp, repulsive (tsook), and occasionally a 

 suggestive (you-uh), which makes one feel conspicuous and uncomfortable. 

 The bird's eye. too, with its orange iris, while it must be admitted to har- 

 monize perfectly with the warm russet of the plumage, has a sinister cast 

 which might prejudice the unthinking. 



In defense of its home the Thrasher is almost fearless, often placing 

 itself within reach of the observer's hand, and calling down upon him all the 



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