Brown Thrasher. 99 



their loquacity by flying from their vicinity. An hour 

 later I passed the tree, desiring to know whether the 

 shrike had returned to finish his disturbed repast, but the 

 mutilated mouse hung with hind feet and tail dangling as 

 the shrike had left it. It was evident to me that the bird 

 had not killed his victim solely from hunger. Several 

 weeks later I again passed the tree, and the mouse still 

 dangled as before — a striking evidence of the shrike's 

 cruelty, and of the untimely fate of mice stealing about 

 on mischief bent. 



As the male is a good provider for his wife while she is 

 brooding her eggs and young, so both parents are notice- 

 able in the care of their offspring learning to gain their 

 own livelihood. For several weeks after the youngsters 

 have left their downy home the parents accompany them, 

 and the family can be observed scattered along a telegraph 

 wire or along a hedgerow. The careful lessons of the 

 parents to their offspring in the art of catching grass- 

 hoppers and mice are very interesting and amusing to the 

 ornithologically inclined observer. The patience of the 

 parents and the docility of the younglings are good ex- 

 amples for beings even higher than the birds. Every at- 

 tempt of the novices is encouraged by an affectionate 

 "quaa," and over and over again do the older birds ex- 

 plain and illustrate until the youngsters have become 

 self-supporting and each of them can forage for himself 

 almost as skillfully as the experienced parents. Thus the 

 shrikes linger among us until the changing weather of 

 October drives them to southern regions, and brings to us 

 the similar but different species, the veritable great 

 northern shrike. 



BEOWN THRASHER. 



While we are examining the homes of the shrikes, the 

 first spring songs of the brown thrasher are borne to our 

 ears, and their melodious fulness establishes the rank of 

 the performer as the prince of Northern songsters. During 

 the last three weeks of April his loud melody, poured from 

 his perch in the top of the hedge, can be heard almost in- 



