BROWN THRASHER 179 



Though it may be and doubtless is rank heresy 

 to say so, I must confess that I prefer it to that 

 of his distinguished cousin the Mockingbird ; but 

 we all need champions. 



In one way the Thrasher is particularly in need 

 of friends. Splendid bird that he is, some Jere- 

 miahs inveigh against him with solemnly wagging 

 heads. He is a criminal to be destroyed off the 

 face of the earth. It is hard to believe such 

 evil of your feathered fellows, but he has been 

 known to taste both grain and fruit ! What con- 

 siderations of song or good fellowship can weigh 

 against such reprehensible conduct ? But hold ! 

 granting that it is a sin to eat a strawberry, if 

 you happen to be clad in feathers, let us look 

 up the records and lay bare his crimes in their 

 full enormity. Taking both grain and fruit, they 

 amount to eleven one hundredths of his food ! 

 Moreover, we are assured that the slight loss this 

 entails is more than compensated by the destruc- 

 tion of an equal bulk of May beetles, which, as 

 pointed out, if left alive would not only have 

 done more initial harm than the Thrashers, but 

 would have left ' a multitudinous progeny ' to 

 attack the next year's crop. The Thrasher usu- 

 ally works in brushy places, but it is said that 

 " he probably does as much good there as he 

 would in the garden, for the swamps and groves 

 are no doubt breeding-grounds for many insects 

 that migrate thence to attack the farmer's crops." 



