LXXXIV 



BEOWN THBASHEB; GROUND THRUSH; RED THRUSH 

 705. Toxostoma rufum 



The general coloring of the Brown Thrasher is rust- 

 red with a slight tendency to a bronze lustre ; the wings 

 are white-tipped and the under parts are whitish with 

 cinnamon brown markings. The sides and breast are 

 streaked with dark brown and the throat is white. The 

 length of the bird is about eleven inches; it has an un- 

 usually long tail, but short wings, hence is not a graceful 

 flyer. 



The Brown Thrasher breeds throughout its extensive 

 migratory range and nests by choice in thick shrubbery 

 and tangles of vines within city limits. It lays from 

 four to five whitish brown speckled eggs, and arrives 

 April first and departs October first. 



Of the highly developed Oscines the Thrasher is 

 given first rank. It is a worm and insect eater, although 

 it doesn't eschew a good juicy cherry. Watch it carefully 

 and see how neatly it strips the legs and wings from the 

 bug or grasshopper ! See how thoroughly it mauls with 

 its beak the big worm, on a limb, until the morsel is dead- 

 ened and pulpified, before feeding it to the young ! This 

 habit gave the bird the name, ''Thrasher." (Fig. 129.) 



It is a beautiful and exquisite songster and endears 

 itself to us by its disposition to nest in our shrubbery 

 and hold its harmonious rehearsals in the highest 

 branches of our shade trees. It is excelled, as a song- 

 ster, by the Mockingbird only. The Brown Thrasher 

 gives out its superb melody from the tallest trees and 

 with a freedom rarely excelled. Not caring to copy the 

 songs of other birds, its solos are of its own composition 

 and are rendered unstintedly and without price. 



The male is an artful wooer, a diligent nest-builder 

 and a believer in equal suffrage, which he practices by 

 sitting on the eggs and assisting in the feeding of the 

 young. 



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