496 AVES—MOCKING-BIRD. 
He also destroys vast quantities of grubs, which he scratches from the ground. 
He is an active and vigorous bird, flying generally low from one thicket to 
another, with his long broad tail spread out like a fan; he has a single note 
or chuck when you approach his nest. He inhabits North America, fror 
Canada to Florida. They are easily reared, and become very familar ir 
confinement. 

The thrasher is eleven inches and a half long; the whole upper parts are 
of a bright reddish brown; lower parts yellowish white; the breast and 
sides are marked with pointed black spots, running in chains. The wings 
are crossed with two white bars. 
THE MOCKING-BIRD.1 
Turis extraordinary bird is peculiar to the new world, inhabiting a consi- 
derable portion of both North and South America. A warm climate and 
low country seem most congenial to their nature; they are therefore much 
more numerous in the southern than the northern states. The berries of 
the red cedar, myrtle, holly, gum berries, gall berries, and a profusion of others, 
with which the luxuriant swampy thickets of those regions abound, furnish 


1 Turdus polygizttus, Lin. 
