BROWN THRASHER (Toxostoma rufum). 



Length, about 11 inches. Brownish red 

 above, heavily Btreakcd with black below. 



Range: Breeds from the Gulf States to south- 

 em Canada and west to Colorado, Wyoming, and 

 Montajia; winters iii the southern half of the 

 eastern United States. 



Habits and economic status: The brown 

 thraaher is more retiring than either the mock- 

 ing bird or catbird, but like them is a splendid 

 singer. Not infrequently, indeed, ita song is 

 taken for that of its more famed cousin, the 

 mockingbird. It is partial to thickets and gets 

 much of its food from the ground. Its search 

 for this is usually accompanied by much scratch- 

 ing and scattering of leaves ; whence ita common 

 name. Its call note is a sharp sound like the 

 smacking of lips, which is useful in identifying 

 this long-tailed, thicket-haunting bird, which 

 does not much relLsh close scrutiny. The brown 

 thraslier is not so fond of fruit as the catbird and 

 mocker, but devours a much larger percentage 

 of animal food. Beetles form one-half of tlie 



animal food, grasshoppers and crickets one-fifth, caterpillars, including cutworms, 

 somewhat less than one-tifth, and bugs, spiders, and millipeds comprise most of 

 the remainder. The brown thrasher feeds on such coleopterous pests as wire- 

 worms. May beetles, rice weevils, rose beetles, and figeaters. By ita destruction 

 of these and otlier insects, which constitute more than 60 per cent of its food, 

 the thrasher much more than compensates for that portion (about one-tenth) of 

 ita diet derived from cultivated crops. (See Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. 1895, 

 pp. 411-415.) 



CATBIRD (Dumetella carolinensis). 



Length, about 9 inches. The slaty gray plumage and black cap and tail are 

 distinctive 



Range: Breeds throughout the United States west to New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, 

 and Washington, and in southern Canada; winters from the Gulf States to Panama. 



Habits and economic status: In many localities the catbird is one of the com- 

 monest birds. Tangled growths are ita favorite nesting places and retreats, but 

 berry patches and ornamental shrubbery are 

 not disdained. Hence the bird is a familiar 

 dooryard visitor. The bird has a fine song, 

 unfortunately marred by occasional cat calls. 

 With habits similar to those of tlie mocking 

 bird and a song almost as varied, the catbird 

 has never secured a similar place in popular 

 favor. Half of ita food consists of fruit, and 

 the cultivated crops most often injured are 

 cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and black- 

 berries. Beetles, anta, crickets, and grasshop- 

 pers are the most important element of its 

 animal food. The bird is known to attack a 

 few pests, as cutworms, leaf beetles, clover-root 

 curculio, and the periodical cicada, but the 

 good it does in this way probably does not pay 

 for the fruit it steals. The extent to which it 

 should be protected may perhaps be left to the 

 individual cultivatfjr; that is, it should be made 

 lawful to destroy catbirds that are doing mani- 

 fest damage to crops. (See Yearbook U. S. 

 Dept. Agric. 1895, pp. 406-411.) 



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