1 88 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



I think the little folks know the Brown Thrasher so well that they 

 will have little trouble in supplying the missing words in this account 

 of the Brown Thrasher. 



The Brown Thrasher (also called , brown mocking 



bird, , and mavis, (is inches in length, and 



has a very long . He is reddish above, with darerk 



, which have two bands. Beneath he is yellowish 



with very dark arrow-shaped spots on his 



and . He is usually found on or near the , and 



he has a habit of twitching and thrashing his when feeding. 



During and you may hear him by the half hour, pouring 



forth a flood of melody from a , head — and tail 



, but he never sings near his . Thoreau says, "While you 



are planting seeds he cries, 'drop it, drop it, — cover it up, cover it up, 

 — pull it up, pull it up.' " Wilson Flagg quotes a shoemaker's trans- 

 lation of the song thus: "Look up, look up. Glory to God! Glory to 

 God! Hallelujah! Amen. Videlicet." 



The nest of the Thrasher is a rude structure of , twigs, 



and on or near the ground. In this she lays four eggs 



thickly speckled with . 



NUTS FOR THE BOYS AND GIRLS TO CRACK. 



1. Name five birds which walk. 



2. Name five birds which sing on the wing. 



3. Name five birds which sing in the night. 



4. Name five birds which nest in holes. 



5. Name five birds which nest in bird houses. 



6. Name five birds that repair and use last year's nest. 



7. Name five birds which creep upon the trunks of trees. 



8. Name five birds which have blue plumage. 



9. Name two birds that carry their young as a cat does kittens 



10. What is a "Merry thought?" 



THE FAVORITE BIRDS, 



"My vote is for the Downy Woodpecker. I have no particular rea- 

 sons for liking him except that he makes one feel that he has no cares 

 and is free from all vices." — Pierce H. Leavitt, Cambridge, Mass. 



"I enjoy the little folks department very much. The bird I like best 

 is the Bluebird. I like it because it comes so early in the spring, and 

 its song is so pretty. I like the colors of the Bluebird too. I have 

 seen some Bluebirds this spring. I like the birds very much." — Helen 

 Tinkham, N. Middleboro, Mass. 



