62 BROWN THRASHER. 
to build the outer structure; within this they place the nest proper, which consists of 
leaves, fine grass-blades, and delicate rootlets. In southwestern Missouri, complete sets 
of eggs may be found as early as the beginning of May; in northern Illinois and Wis- 
consin, one need not look for them before June 1. The eggs, usually four to five, some- 
times six, in number, are of a bluish or greenish-white color, thickly sprinkled with 
minute rusty brown dots. I have found several sets of eggs, the brown markings of 
which were so dense as to almost hide the light ground-color. 
Both of the old birds incubate, though the male spends much time standing guard 
a short distance from the nest. With the approach of danger, he utters his soft warning 
note, which is the signal for the female to leave the nest stealthily and slip into the 
thicket. In the years of my youth, I was often duped by the cunning with which the 
Brown Thrush keeps the secret of its nest’s whereabouts. Whenever I approached a 
nest, the male uttered his warning note and the female soon joined him hopping over 
the ground through the dense shrubbery. Both would repair to some thicket away 
from the nest and continue their plaintive notes while flying to and fro and hopping up 
and down, till I was convinced that the nest must be in the same thicket as the birds. 
I would search long and diligently, but find no nest. Meanwhile the cunning birds had 
suddenly disappeared.— Should the observer unexpectedly happen on a nest in the midst 
of a thicket, the male bird will usually not be found at hand. If there be young 
in the nest, however, he will come forth in great anxiety and excitement, and not in- 
frequently courageously attack the intruder. Brown Thrashers are also exceedingly 
careful to keep their fledged young concealed. These hungry little ‘“bob-tails’”’ usually 
sit screaming among the dense branches of thickets, uttering their smacking ‘‘tseep, 
tseep” for food almost without interruption. I have very frequently heard these beg- 
ging cries close beside or above me; but as soon as the young had heard the warning 
note of one of the old birds, they stopped their cries for food at once, and were per- 
fectly silent till all danger was passed. The young often leave the nest before they are 
able to fly, while the wing and tail-feathers are still but little developed. Should the 
observer approach a nest of half-fledged young, he will see them skip out on all sides, 
jump to the ground, and vanish in the rank grass and low bushes. If he happen to 
visit the same spot the following day, he will at first see and hear nothing of either 
the young or the old birds. If he have patience enough to observe carefully and remain 
quiet, he will soon hear repeatedly a soft call-note, the old birds will appear with food 
and vanish again in the top of some small crab or white-thorn tree roofed over with 
wild grape vines. Under the dense canopy, the young will be found to have selected a 
fitting hiding place, where they can remain till they are able to use their wings to more 
purpose. In the Northern States, there is only one breod annually, while in southern 
Missouri, and southward, there are two broods. 
Unobserved, silent; usually from thicket to thicket, and in bushes along streams 
and rivers, the Brown Thrush migrates southward, ordinarily during October. The South- 
ern States, especially those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, are the Brown Thrasher’s 
winter quarters. I have found the bird in southeastern Texas from December to March. 
They usually remain near the water where thicket succeeds thicket. They are especially 
common where the magnolia, cherry-laurel, holly, dense blackberry and Mexican mul- 
