272 The Brown Thrasher 



are of more service to us than is the Brown Thrasher, yet, despite this 

 fact, they are frequently shot. 



Such an instance arose in connection with the pair of Brown 

 Thrashers mentioned above. One day I heard the report of a little rifle 

 and, looking out of the window, saw that a boy had just fired at one 

 of the birds. By the time I was able to reach the lawn he was taking 

 aim for a second time. I shouted to him to stop, and, running out to 

 the road, told him he must not kill those birds not only because we 

 wanted them to live, but because it 'was against the law to shoot them. 

 His father, who had accompanied his twelve-year-old boy on his walk, 

 came up and asked for an explanation of my conduct in interfering 

 with his son. In defense of the young hunter the father declared: "I 

 have bought my boy a rifle and am teaching him to shoot. I want him 

 to grow up and be a sportsman. Why do you inter- 

 Misguided f ere w j th | 1 j m j n ^ mnoce nt sport?" 



In the days when the father was a boy there 



were, unfortunately, no Audubon Societies in the country, and compar- 

 atively little instruction was given in the schools as to the economic 

 value of wild birds, and the desirability of preserving them. Still, it 

 seemed incredible that this man who, from his appearance, had evidently 

 prospered in business or by inheritance, should have lived to the age of 

 fifty and never learned better than to think that the greatest service 

 which a Brown Thrasher can render is to serve as a target for a boy who 

 is ambitious to learn the art of skilfully pursuing and destroying wild 

 life. 



Occasionally we hear complaints that the Brown Thrashers destroy 

 grain and fruit. However, after careful and extended observations, 

 bird-experts of the United States Department of Agriculture have re- 

 ported that 65 per cent, of the bird's food consists of insects, mainly 

 beetles. The fruit which they eat is mostly of wild shrubs, and the dam- 

 age done to cultivated fruit is exceedingly small. The grain taken 

 appears to be entirely waste kernels scattered in harvesting or in hauling 

 it along the roads. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Brown Thrasher belongs to the Order Passer es, Suborder O seines nnd 

 Family Mimidce. Its scientific name is Toxostoma rufum. It breeds from south- 

 ern Alberta, southern Manitoba, northern Michigan, southern Ontario and north rn 

 Maine, southward to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains; and winters from southeastern Missouri and North Carolina to south- 

 central Texas and southern Florida. In the Southwestern States it is replaced 

 by several other species of the same genus. 



This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Associa 

 Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 



