SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 179 
Brown Thrasher. Brown Thrush. Red Mavis. Planting Bird. 
Toxostoma rufum. 
Length. — Nearly eleven and one-half inches. 
Adult. — Reddish-brown above, with white wing bars; below, mainly white; 
breast, belly, and sides of throat streaked or spotted with blackish. 
Nest. — Loosely built of twigs, etc., on the ground or ina brush pile or low bush. 
Eggs.— As large as the Robin’s; white or greenish, thickly spotted with light 
reddish-brown. 
Season. — April to October. 
This bird may be distinguished from the true Thrushes by 
its large size, long tail, and long, curved beak. It arrives in 
Massachusetts the latter part of April, and leaves for the south 
in October. Its rich, bold, and varied song may be heard 
along the borders of woodland, in coppice growth, or from 
some tall tree about the farmyard or pasture. 
The song was first brought prominently to my attention 
when as a barefoot boy of ten I was dropping corn in the field 
at planting time. The Thrasher sat in a tree near the corn- 
field, its swelling throat pouring forth a flood of music on 
the warm May wind. Just over the wall in the adjoining 
field a dusty plowman stopped his team. “There, boy,” he 
said, “that is the Planting Bird. Some folks call it the Red 
Mavis. Hear him sing, ‘Drop it, drop it, drop it; cover it 
up, cover it up, cover it up; Ill pull it up, I’ll pull it up.’” 
Both words and song made so strong an impression on my 
youthful mind that they have never been effaced from my 
memory. Later we found that the Thrasher had kept his 
promise, and pulled up some of the corn that we had planted. 
This is the only really harmful habit of this bird, and this 
seems to be more local than general; for, while it pulls a 
little corn on some farms, there is no complaint from it else- 
where. Thoreau reports a similar phrasing of the Thrasher’s 
song, but omits every reference to the bird as a corn puller, 
giving the last part of the song as “Pull it up.” He also 
mentions the common name Mavis, by which I think the bird is 
now known only among the older people. This name is prob- 
ably of European origin, and came down to us from the early 
settlers; but the bird is still known among farmers in some 
sections of the State as the Planting Bird or Brown Thrush. 
