The Brown Thrasher. 



199 



placed three sparrows in the cage of a 

 Thrush one evening and found them killed, 

 as well as nearly stripped of their feathers, 

 the next morning. So perfectly gentle did 

 this bird become that when I opened its 

 cage it would follow me about the yard and 

 garden. The instant it saw me take a spade 

 or hoe, it would follow at my heels, and as 

 I turned up the earth, would pick up every 

 insect or worm thus exposed to its view. I 

 kept it for three years, and its affection for 

 me at last cost it its life. It usually slept 

 on the back of my chair in my study, and 

 one night the door being accidentally left 

 open, it was killed by a cat.'" Nuttall 

 having spoken of the affection and the 

 jealousy manifested by one of these birds 

 which he had reared and kept uncaged for 

 some time, says: "I may also add, that 

 besides a playful turn for mischief and in- 

 terruption in which he would sometimes 

 snatch off the paper on which I was writing, 

 he had a good deal of curiosity, and was 

 much surprised one day by a large spring- 

 ing beetle or Elater [JS. occellatus), which I 

 had caught and placed in a tumbler. On 

 all such occasions his looks of capricious 

 surprise were very amusing; he cautiously 

 approached the glass with fanning and 

 closing wings, and in an undertone con- 

 fessed his surprise at the address and jump- 

 ing motion of the huge insect. At length 

 he became bolder, and perceiving it had a 

 relation to his ordinary prey of beetles, he, 

 with some hesitation, ventured to snatch at 

 the prisoner between temerity and playful- 

 ness. But when really alarmed or offended, 

 he instantly flew to his perch, forbid all 

 friendly approaches, and for some time kept 

 up his low angry tsherr. My late friend, the 

 venerable William Bartram, was also much 

 amused by the intelligence displayed by 

 this bird, and relates that one which he 

 kept, being fond of hard bread crumbs, 

 found, when they grated his throat, a very 

 rational remedy in softening them by soak- 

 ing in his vessel of water; he likewise by 



experience discovered that the painful prick 

 of the wasps, on which he fed, could be 

 obviated by extracting their stings." One 

 of these birds which we had in captivity 

 greatly enjoyed being taken out of his cage 

 at night and carried about the room perched 

 on the forefinger to capture the flies at rest 

 on the kitchen walls. 



The Brown Thrasher, as has been inti- 

 mated, is a courageous bird, devotedly at- 

 tached to its mate and young and ready 

 under all circumstances to do battle in their 

 defense. All four-footed enemies who ap- 

 proach the nest are fiercely attacked, and 

 even its human persecutors might be ap- 

 palled by the fury of the parents' onslaught. 

 The males are somewhat given to fighting 

 among themselves, and during the mating 

 season severe battles often take place for 

 the favor of some coveted female. 



The food of this species consists chiefly 

 of insects, worms and beetles being favor- 

 ite articles of diet with it, but it also eats 

 the berries of the sumach as well as those 

 of the dogwood, the choke cherry and the 

 wild grape. 



The Brown Thrasher usually rears two 

 broods of young, and soon after those of 

 the second hatching are able to take care 

 of themselves, the families separate. The 

 migration southward begins about the first 

 of October, and the birds journey singly, 

 making short low flights along the hedges 

 or through the woods. 



These birds are very fond of dusting 

 themselves in sand or dust after the man- 

 ner of the common fowl, and may often be 

 surprised at this in country roads. In such 

 cases they do not usually fly away, but run 

 with surprising quickness into the nearest 

 thicket, where they remain concealed until 

 the danger is past. They are also very 

 fond of bathing in water, and after doing 

 this ascend by hopping from branch to 

 branch to the topmost spray of some neigh- 

 boring tree, where with all their feathers 

 spread out to the sun and the breeze, they 



