582 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



imitations of the various small birds of the neighborhood. At 

 times the song has a soft, ventriloquial character, seeming to 

 come from everywhere about, again it is loud and easily traced 

 to its source. At the approach of any disturbing element the 

 song ceases and the angry catlike mew is uttered. The birds 

 are very brave in defending their homes against cats, and other 

 predaceous birds or animals, flying at them with angry mew- 

 ings. A small stuffed Owl placed where a Catbird can discover 

 it is soon made the center of a mobbing force of small birds 

 summoned by the angry calls of the Catbird. 



Genus TOXOSTOMA Wagler. 



Subgenus METHRIOPTERUS Reichenbach. 



705. Toxostoma riifum (Linn.). Brown Thrasher; Brown 

 Thrush; Song Thrush; Mavis; Mocking Thrush. 



Plumage of adults : above rich deep cinnamon rufous ; wing coverts whit- 

 ish tipped ; below white, washed on the throat and sides with buff and 

 streaked with black. Immature plumage : above mottled with clove brown, 

 otherwise very similar to adults. Wing 4.10 ; tail 5.15 ; culmen 0.97. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains, breeding 

 from the Gulf States to southern Maine, Ontario and Manitoba ; wintering 

 from Virginia southward ; accidental in Europe. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; common summer resident, (Johnson). 

 Cumberland ; common in some parts of the county but not so near Portland, 

 (Brown, C. B. P. p. 4) ; common near Portland, (Lord) ; rare summer resi- 

 dent, (Mead). Franklin; rare summer resident, (Richards). Kennebec; 

 common summer resident, (Gardiner Branch). Knox; siunmer, (Rackliff). 

 Oxford; breeds, (Nash). Sagadahoc; common summer resident, (Spinney). 

 York; quite common summer resident, (Adams). 



This is a typical species of the Alleghanian fauna, its range 

 east of the Kennebec River being very limited, but locally in 

 southern Maine, west of the Kennebec it occurs even in quite 

 considerable numbers. I have met with the species in consider- 

 able numbers along the Kennebec River from Augusta to Gar- 

 diner. Mr. Brown gives the date of arrival near Portland in 

 his Catalogue as the first week of May, from which time it 

 remains until into September. I find recorded in the migration 



