414 NOTES ON THE 



Their food consists chiefly of worms, caterpillars, beetles, 

 spiders, and various species of fruit and berries. Their more 

 characteristic haunts are thick, low brush along the fences, 

 which embrace an occasional isolated tree or sapling, brier 

 patches, thickets of alders, sumach, &c, in flying from one to 

 another of which, we catch glimpses of their long, ferruginous 

 tails, spread broadly as they dash nervously out of sight, like 

 culprits just escaped from some merited punishment. The 

 note of caution, and of alarm in the presence of supposed 

 danger, is a short, staccato chuck, repeated more or less fre- 

 quently according to the measure of apprehensions awakened 



They are popularly known in different sections of the coun- 

 try by various names amongst which are; Thrasher, Brown 

 Thrasher, Brown thrush, and the French Mocking Bird, which 

 readily suggest the use of scientific names for all natural 

 objects, selected from dead, and therefore unchangable 

 languages, common to all nations for scientific nomenclature. 



Wilson says of this favorite bird: "The Thrasher is a wel- 

 come visitant in spring to every lover of rural scenery and 

 rural song. In the months of April and May, when our woods, 

 hedges, orchards, and cherry trees are one profusion of blos- 

 som; when every object around conveys the sweet sensations of 

 joy, and Heavens' abundance is, as it were, showering about us, 

 the grateful heart beats in unison with the varying, elevated 

 strains of this bird. We listen to its notes with a kind of 

 devotional ecstasy, as a morning hymn to the great, and most 

 adorable Creator of all. The human being who, amidst such 

 scenes, and in such seasons of rural serenity and delight, can 

 pass them with cold indifference, and even contempt, I 

 sincerely pity, for abject must be that heart, and callous those 

 feelings, and depraved that taste, which neither the charms of 

 nature, nor the melody of innocence, nor the voice of gratitude 

 or devotion can reach." 



The Brown Thrush has a very wide distribution within our 

 boundaries, where the conditions are suitable to their habits, 

 but they have their limitations, so that I have visited consider- 

 able sections in which they were unrepresented. Mr. Wash- 

 burn found them common at Mille Lacs in July and August, 

 but rare in the Red river valley a little later. All of my cor- 

 respondence reports theii* essentially common and breeding 

 abundantly. 



