OF NEW ENGLAND. 49 



partly, of strips of cedar-bark and the like, together with dead 

 leaves and similar substances. The eggs are dirty white, cov- 

 ered with very numerous and minute light brown markings, and 

 average 1'05 X '80 of an inch, or more. One specimen is 

 slightly tinged with green. In Eastern Massachusetts, two 

 sets of these eggs (containing four or five) are laid every year, 

 the first of which commonly appears in the last week of May, 

 though sometimes exceptionally in the second week. 



(c). Not only do the notes of the Brown Thrush bear a 

 strong resemblance to those of the Cat-bird, but their habits 

 also correspond closely to those of that bird. The " Song 

 Thrushes" reach the neighborhood of Boston, more often in 

 the first than in the second week of May, or perhaps most often 

 in the last week of April,, and are common summer-residents 

 throughout southern New England, many not withdrawing 

 until October. They are rare, however, in Northern Vermont, 

 New Hampshire, and Maine. Though on their arrival one may 

 often see them on cultivated estates and near houses, yet they 

 almost invariably, so far as I know, pass their summers in that 

 species of shrubbery known as u scrub," or in low cedar- 

 woods, where underbrush abounds, and are much less familiar 

 toward man than are their relations the Cat-birds. They feed 

 upon berries, caterpillars, wasps, or beetles, and, while en- 

 gaged in procuring them, may often be seen moving from bush 

 to bush, with a characteristic flight, and with their long tails 

 so outspread as to be very conspicuous. When they perch, the 

 " Thrashers " flirt or depress their tails in the manner of the 

 last species, to whom I have already referred ; and they like- 

 wise are very bold in the defence of their nest, often hissing 

 with the vehemence of a pugnacious goose. They frequently 

 have refused to leave their nests on my approach, unless to fly 

 at me in a way, which used to frighten me heartily, when 

 young. They are so brave and at the same time so unsociable 

 as rarely or never to congregate, either for the sake of mutual 

 protection or of companionship. They may be seen, however, 

 in pairs, rustling loudly among the dead leaves, or hopping 

 along the ground with remarkable agility. I have called them 

 5 



