16. EVERYDAY BIRDS 
“Drop it, drop it! Cover it up, cover it up!” 
Perhaps he did. It was good advice, anyhow. 
In his own way the thrasher is one of the 
great singers of the world. He is own cousin to 
the famous mockingbird, and at the South, where 
he and the mocker may be heard singing side by 
side, — and so much alike that it is hard to tell 
one from the other, — he is known as the “ brown 
mocking-bird.”” He would deserve the title but 
for one thing — he does not mock. In that re- 
spect he falls far short of his gray cousin, who not 
only has all the thrasher’s gift of original song, 
but a most amazing faculty of imitation, as every 
one knows who has heard even a caged mocking- 
bird running over the medley of notes he has 
picked up here and there and carefully rehearsed 
and remembered. The thrasher’s song is a med- 
ley, but not a medley of imitations. 
I have said that the thrasher keeps near the 
ground. Such is his habit; but there is one 
exception. When he sings he takes the very 
top of a tree, although usually it is not a tall 
one. There he stands by the half-hour together, 
head up and tail down, pouring out a flood of 
music; sounds of all sorts, high notes and low 
notes, smooth notes and rough notes, all jum- 
bled together in the craziest fashion, as if the 
musician were really beside himself. 
