34 
supplies? The remedy is obvious; cultivated fruits can be protected 
by the simple expedient of planting wild species or others which are 
preferred by the birds. Some experiments with catbirds in captivity 
showed that the Russian mulberry was preferred to any cultivated fruit 
that could be offered. 
The stomachs of 213 catbirds were examined and found to contain 44 
per cent of animal (insect) and 56 per cent of vegetable food.’ Ants, 
beetles, caterpillars, and grasshoppers constitute three-fourths of the 
animal food, the remainder being made up of bugs, miscellaneous insects 
and spiders. One-third of the vegetable food consists of cultivated 
fruits, or those which may be cultivated, such as strawberries, raspber- 
ries, and blackberries; but while we debit the bird with the whole of 
this, it is probable—and in the eastern and well-wovded part of the 
country almost certain—that a large part was obtained from wild vines. 
The rest of the vegetable matter is mostly wild fruit, such as cherries, 
dogwood, sour gum, elder berries, greenbrier, spice berries, black alder, 
sumac, and poison ivy. 
Although the catbird sometimes does considerable harm by destroying 
small fruit, the bird can not be considered injurious. On the contrary, 
in most parts of the country it does far more good than harm, and the 
evil it does can be reduced appreciably by the methods already pointed 
out. 
THE BROWN THRASHER. 
(Harporhynchus rufus.) 
The brown thrasher (fig. 19) breeds throughout the United States east 
of the Great Plains, and winters in the south Atlantic and Gulf States. 
It occasionally visits the garden or orchard, but nests in swamps or in 
groves standing upon low ground. While it generally prefers a thickly 
grown retreat, it sometimes builds in a pile of brush at a distance from 
trees. On account of its more retiring habits it is not so conspicuods 
as the robin, although it may be equally abundant. Few birds can 
exce] the thrasher in sweetness of song, but it is so shy that its notes 
are not heard often enough to be appreciated. Its favorite time for sing- 
ing is the early morning, when, perched on the top of some tall bush or 
low tree, it gives an exhibition of vocal powers which would do credit to 
a mockingbird. Indeed, in the South, where the latter bird is abun- 
dant, the thrasher is known as the sandy mocker. 
The food of the brown thrasher consists of both fruit and insects. 
An examination of 121 stomachs showed 36 per cent of vegetable and 
64 of animal food, practically all insects, and mostly taken in spring 
before fruit is ripe. Half the insects were beetles, and the remainder 
chiefly grasshoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and spiders. A few predaceous 
' The investigation of the food of the catbird, brown thrasher, and house wren was 
made by Mr. Sylvester D. Judd and published in the Yearbook of the Department 
of Agriculture for 1895, pp. 405-408. 
