100 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



ceesantly, and has giveu him no mean reputation, even in 

 localities where brilliant bird music is the rule. Resi- 

 dents of the open prairie districts in the Northern States, 

 whose acquaintance with the mocking-bird is limited to 

 captives and an occasional wild straggler, and who never 

 hear the exquisite notes of the wood thrush except when 

 visiting the deeper woodlands, recognize the brown 

 thrasher as the past master of northern rural song. In 

 his favorite haunts during the earlier mating and nesting 

 season, no bird surpasses him in the volume and quality 

 of continued melody. The cat-bird alone approaches him 

 in sweetness and modulation, but lacks the thrasher's 

 power and continuity of song; and the cat-bird's frequent 

 interpolation of its unmusical cat-cry detracts much from 

 its sweeter utterances. 



From the manner in w^iich the brown thrasher intro- 

 duces the notes of other species into his own airs, he is 

 popularly known as a "mocking-bird," though he should 

 not be confounded with the real " moquer " of the South- 

 ern States and the southern portions of our own State. In 

 real melody and variety, as well as unexpected surprises 

 of musical combinations, the brown thrasher is little in- 

 ferior to the true mocking-bird, but after him is not rivalled 

 by any other American bird. Indeed, many excellent 

 judges with cultivated tastes do not hesitate to place the 

 brown thrasher above the mocking-bird, as the better 

 singer, in their judgment. In my opinion, however, the 

 brown thrasher evinces less taste in the class of notes 

 which he seems to imitate, often selecting those of harsher 

 quality, and thus marring the effect of his own sweet notes 

 by associating with them the notes of birds whose songs 

 are incomparably below his own. 



The brown thrasher is an inhabitant of North America 

 east of the Rocky Mountains and south of the British 

 Provinces, breeding throughout its range, and migrating 

 in autumn to the Southern States. Thomas Mcllwraith 

 says that it occurs throughout Ontario, and crosses the 

 boundary to Manitoba and the Northwest, retiring from 

 Ontario in September. On its northward migration it 

 reaches central Illinois late in March or early in April. 

 March 18, 1882, and April 6, 1892, are the extreme dates 



