104 FERRUGINOUS THRUSH. 



house of the planter, along with tliat^of the Mocking Bird. To the east- 

 ward, where the denseness of the population renders the bird more shy, 

 the nest is placed with more care. But wherever it is situated, you find 

 it large, composed externally of dry twigs, briars, or other small sticks, 

 imbedded in and mixed with dried leaves, coarse grass, and other such 

 materials, thickly lined with fibrous roots, horse hair, and sometimes rags 

 and feathers. The eggs are from four to six, of a pale dull buff colour, 

 thickly sprinkled with dots of brown. Two broods are usually raised in 

 the Southern States, but rarely more than one in the Middle and North- 

 ern Districts. 



They breed well in aviaries, and are quite tractable in a closer state of 

 confinement. The young are raised in the same manner, and with the same 

 food, as those of the Mocking Bird. In cages it sings well, and has much 

 of the movements of the. latter bird, being full of activity, petulant, and 

 occasionally apt to peck in resentment at the hand which happens to ap- 

 proach it. The young begin their musical studies in autumn, repeating 

 passages with as much zeal as ever did Paganini. By the following spring 

 their full powers of song are developed. 



My friend Bachman, who has raised many of these birds, has favour- 

 ed me with the following particulars respecting them : — " Though good- 

 humoured towards the person who feeds them, they are always savage 

 towards all other kinds of birds. I 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 be- 

 come, that when I opened its cage, it would follow me about the yard and 

 the garden. The instant it saw me take a spade or a hoe, it would fol- 

 low at my heels, and, as I turned up the earth, would pick up every in- 

 sect 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. I once knew a few of these birds remain the whole 

 of a mild winter in the State of New York, in a wild state." 



The Brown or Ferruginous Thrush is the strongest of the genus in 

 the XInited States, neither the Mocking Bird nor the Robin being able to 

 cope with it. Like the former, it will chase the cat or the dog, and 

 greatly tease the racoon or the fox. It follows the Falco Cooperii and 

 the Goshawk, bidding them defiance, and few snakes come off with suc- 

 cess when they g,ttack its nest. It is remarkable also, that, although these 



