58 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



of beating the insects upon the ground or perch, knocking 

 and thrashing them about until dead (and in removing 

 the wings and legs of the larger ones before swallowing 

 them). It is for this reason they are called Thrashers. 

 They flit and hop about in the bushes, with expanded tails, 

 in a graceful, easy manner, but, on account of the short- 

 ness of their rounded wings, their flights are low and 

 heavy. The old birds do not take kindly to confinement, 

 but the young when reared from the nest become very 

 tame, and when well cared for sing with full power and 

 melody their charming wild-wood song, which, for length, 

 compass, variety and musical flow, ranks next to the song 

 of the Mockingbird. Their call and alarm notes vary: 

 a " Chup," hissing sounds, at times harsh, scolding notes. 

 Their nests are placed in low bushes, vines, hedges, and 

 occasionally upon the ground; a coarse, bulky structure, 

 the outside usually composed of sticks, rootlets and stems 

 of weeds; within this an inner nest of leaves and strip- 

 pings from plants, lined with fine rootlets and horse hair. 

 Eggs three to five (usually four), 1.06x.80; creamy white 

 to pale greenish, thickly dotted with yellowish to reddish 

 brown, confluent around the larger end; in form, oval to 

 rounded oval. 



VIII.— OYEI^-BIKD. 

 Seiurus aurocapillus (Linn.). 



Summer resident; very common in the eastern part of 

 the State. Arrive the middle to last of April; begin 

 laying about the middle of May ; leave early in September. 



Habitat. Eastern IN'orth America ; north to Hudson's 

 Bay Territory and Alaska ; west to the base of the Eocky 

 Mountains ; breeding from southern Kansas and Virginia 



