240 BROWN THRASHER. 



moonlight nights of the nesting season, Mockingbirds 

 sing all night. They are then less active, and, mounting 

 to some favorite perch, often a chimney top, flood the 

 still air with entrancing melody. 



Like the Catbird and Mocker, the Brown Thrasher or 



Brown "Thrush" inhabits thickets and undergrowth. 



Brown Thrasher, He is > however, a much less domestic 



Harporhynchus rufus. bird, and prefers brushy pasture lots and 



Plate LX vii. way side hedges to lawns or gardens. 

 He arrives from the South the latter part of April, and 

 often remains until late in October. The nest is built 

 about May 15, and is placed on the ground or several feet 

 above it. The eggs are bluish or grayish white, thickly, 

 evenly, and minutely speckled with cinnamon or reddish 

 brown. 



As a songster I should rank the Thrasher between 

 the Mocker and the Catbird. His song is less varied and 

 animated than the Mocker's, and while his technique may 

 not excel that of the Catbird, his song, to my mind, is 

 much more effective than the performance of that accom- 

 plished musician. Mounting to the topmost limb of a 

 tree, he sings uninterruptedly for several minutes. The 

 notes can be heard for at least a third of a mile, ringing 

 out clear and well defined above the medley of voices 

 that form the chorus of a May morning. 



The intense vitality which characterizes the life of 

 birds finds its highest expression in the Wrens. Perpet- 



House Wren ua ^ m tion alone describes the activity 

 Troglodytes aedon. of these nervous, excitable little crea- 

 Piate LXVIII. tureg> Repose seems out of the ques- 

 tion ; as well expect to catch a weasel asleep as to find a 

 Wren at rest. 



In his movements, song, and nesting habits our House 

 Wren exhibits the characteristic traits of his family. He 

 is ever hopping, flitting, bobbing, or bowing, pausing 



