ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



17 



posile, each coming to the nest approximately once in every twenty minutes. 



I was somewhat puzzled at first as to what the Thrashers were feeding 

 their babies until early in the morning of the second day I noticed the 

 female catch the owners of three large spider webs on a tree outside of 

 my window. These spiders were immediately taken to the nest and fed to 

 three of the nestlings. Later in the day I saw the same thing repeated, 

 only this time she did not capture three but instead enough to go around 

 once and still leave two spiders in reserve. On the third day the little 

 birds were being fed larger and heavier insects, the most noticeable in- 

 sect being the common black ground beetle. These beetles were brought 

 to the nestlings by both Thrashers in ever increasing and astonishing 

 numbers. 



Five days later the young Thrashers had nearly all of their feathers 

 unquilled, their backs being a soft red brown and their breasts sparsely 

 covered with white, specked feathers. They were a very unusual sight with 

 their oversized yellow bills and long yellowish legs which lent them the 

 appearance of an overgrown boy dressed in his last year's outgrown clothes. 



About this time the female Thrasher began to bring to her babies the 

 first grasshoppers of the season along with a few fruits, such as wild straw- 

 berries. From then on to the time they left the nest the principal diet of 

 the young birds consisted almost entirely of grasshoppers and a few berries. 



Two weeks from the time they hatched, the young Brown Thrashers 

 left the nest. They did not seem to want to fly, and stayed around on the 

 ground and low bushes for several days, returning to the nest at night. 

 At intervals of three or four days for about a month, I saw them, usually 

 about twilight, flying or perching about their old nest. Finally, the two 

 adult Thrashers having drifted away to another location to raise their sec- 

 ond brood, the young Brown Thrashers disappeared and I have not seen 

 them since. 



John H. Sutter. 



two MOODS. 

 IX THE first of these photographs of a young brown thrasher by c. f. 



GRONEMAN, THE BIRD APPEARS BRACED AND EXPECTANT, WILL TNG TO UNDER- 

 GO THE ORDEAL OF BEING FED. IN THE NEXT HE HAS AN AIR BEFITTING 

 ONE WHO HAS RECENTLY HAD A SATISFYING EXPERIENCE BUT WHO 

 ALSO HAS AN EYE TO FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 



