THE CALIFORNIAN THRASHER. 



{Harporhynchus redivivus. ) 



One of the finest songsters among 

 birds is the California Thrasher. Though 

 confined to the coast regions of CaHfor- 

 nia, it is quite abundant and seems to 

 bear to that locaHty the same relation 

 that the brown thrush, or thrasher, 

 does to the thickets further east. The 

 song of this Western Thrasher is ex- 

 quisitely sweet, and by some it is con- 

 sidered far superior to that of any of the 

 numerous songsters that frequent the 

 woods and brush of the Pacific coast. 

 These lines, written by Mr. Wasson re- 

 garding the song of the brown thrasher, 

 apply equally well to the bird of our il- 

 lustration : 



O, hark to the brown thrush ! Hear how he 



smgs 



Now he pours the dear pain of his gladness ! 

 What a gush ! And from out what golden 



springs 



What a rage of how sweet 'madness ! 



It is in the morning and in the even- 

 ing that this Thrasher pours forth its 

 song from some prominent and exposed 

 perch. Then, as it were, with all care 

 dismissed from its mind, all the energy 

 of its being is thrown into a hymn of 

 nature. By some this song is considered 

 richer than that of the mockingbirds, 

 though the Thrasher has but one air. 



As a rule the California Thrasher fre- 

 quents w^ooded thickets, though it is of- 

 ten found in shrubby fields and hedges, 

 and the dense thickets bordering streams 

 are especially attractive, for here it finds, 

 the quiet that its nature seems to crave. 

 Unusually shy and distrustful of man, 

 it generally avoids his habitations, and, 

 like the brown thrasher, resents intru- 

 sion with a peculiar and complaining 

 note. Yet the female is inclined to re- 



main on her nest and allow close inspec- 

 tion. 



Because of its short wings the move- 

 ments of this Thrasher are rather heavy. 

 Its flights are short and usually from 

 bush to bush, while constantly opening 

 and shutting its tail. Its life is not con- 

 fined to trees and shrubs, for it moves 

 easily on the ground, hopping rapidly 

 with acxompanying jerks of its tail. It 

 is said that it will scratch in the layer 

 of old leaves under trees, like a domes- 

 tic fowl when hunting for its food. It 

 prefers insect food and seldom eats fruit 

 of any kind, except when food of its 

 choice is 'scarce. 



Its favorite haunts seem to be the re- 

 gions of scrubby oak and greasewood 

 brush of the deep mountain gorges. Here 

 it builds its home, which *'is a coarse, 

 widely constructed platform of sticks, 

 coarse grass and mosses, with but a very 

 slight depression. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, nests of this bird are more care- 

 fully and elaborately made. It is always 

 well hid in the low scrub bushes." 



Both the sexes assist in the care of the 

 eggs, though the male, as befits the father 

 of a family, usually stands guard over the 

 nest, giving a quiet note of warning on 

 the approach of danger. Both sexes are 

 said to be adepts at misleading an in- 

 truder, for they will fly away from the 

 nest to the ground or to some thicket at 

 a distance from their home, and there 

 by plaintive notes soon attract the in- 

 truder, especially if he is a nest hunter. 

 In this, as well as in all its habits, it so 

 resembles the brown thrasher that it 

 may be considered its representative on 

 the Pacific Coast. 



