IV 



THE BROWN THRASHER 



THE brown thrasher called also the brown 

 thrush is a bird considerably longer than a 

 robin, with a noticeably long tail and a long, 

 curved bill. His upper parts are reddish brown 

 or cinnamon color, and his lower parts white or 

 whitish, boldly streaked with black. You will 

 find him in hedgerows, in scrub-lands, and about 

 the edges of woods, where he keeps mostly on or 

 near the ground. His general manner is that of 

 a creature who wishes nothing else so much as to 

 escape notice. " Only let me alone," he seems 

 to say. If he sees you coming, as he pretty cer- 

 tainly will, he dodges into the nearest thicket or 

 barberry-bush, and waits for you to pass. 



Farmers know him as the " planting-bird." 

 In New England he makes his appearance with 

 commendable punctuality between the twentieth 

 of April and the first of May ; and while the 

 farmer is planting his garden, the thrasher en- 

 courages him with song. One man, who was 

 planting beans, imagined that the bird said, 



