THE BROWN THRASHER. 25 



Not more than one brood is usually raised in the northern 

 states, although beginning so early, but at the south two are 

 brought up in a season. 



The young are fed upon the lan^ae of various beetles and other 

 insects, and eat an enormous quantity of these grubs, with a des- 

 sert of small, soft berries. Their bellies become distended un- 

 til they almost burst and lose all semblance to the bodies of 

 birds. Yet, whenever they hear the mother's call, or an imi- 

 tation of it, they will open wide their gaping, yellow mouths 

 for more. It is some days, however, before they learn their pa- 

 rents' voices. They breed well in aviaries, and the young are 

 raised upon the same food as mocking-birds. 



The Texas Thrasher(Var. longirostris. No. 10a) is a dark 

 race, inhabiting eastern Mexico, and northward to the eastern 

 bank of the Rio Grande. Mr. George H. Sennett, of Erie, Pa., 

 has enlightened us greatly as to its habits, which until lately 

 were little known, and which are found to resemble closely those 

 of the eastern bird except in greater shyness. At the mouth 

 of the Rio Grande their nests were numerous in April. They 

 were situated in a variety of places — cactuses, Spanish-bay- 

 onet plants, chaparral, and most commonly in the dense under- 

 growth among the heavy timber. Its usual position is in the very 

 heart of the tree or plant selected, and like most nests of this 

 region is not capable of being detached from the thorny bush- 

 es without falling to pieces. Brewer's History of North Ameri- 

 can Birds asserts that the nests of this species "are usually a 

 mere platform of small sticks or coarse stems, with little or no 

 depression or rim, and are placed in bushes, usually above the 

 upper branches." Mr. Sennett's trustworthy observations cor- 

 rect this. He found none without a lining, either of grasses, 

 Spanish moss, fine roots, or bark ; there was a marked de- 

 pression in every nest, the depression varying from one to 

 two and a half inches. The lowest was four feet from the 

 ground and the highest some eight feet ; none were in an ex- 

 posed position "above the upper branches." Mr. Sennett thinks 

 this nest cannot ordinarily be distinguished from that of the 

 mocking-bird or that of the next species, either by structure or 

 position. The usual clutch is four eggs, which are hardly dis- 



