324 THE BIRDS 
fall. The female is a close sitter, especially if the eggs 
are incubated a few days, one often being able to almost 
touch her before she departs. The nest is a large, bulky 
affair, loosely made of twigs, dry leaves and _ rootlets, 
lined with fine grasses, placed in a low bush or vines, 
from two to ten feet up. Three to four eggs is a complete 
set, though one set of five eggs during the twenty years 
collecting is a record set in this locality. April 20th to 
May 15th finds fresh eggs. Occasionally a second brood. 
Eggs grayish-white, spotted over entirely with reddish- 
brown. Size, 1.05x.80. Few series of eggs show a more 
yaried marking or coloring than those of this species. 
They take a few cultivated berries from the patches, but 
one generally finds them scratching in the dry leaves, after 
the manner of chickens, for insects and their larve. Dur- 
ing the time young are in the nest, they are constantly on 
the move procuring all kinds of food, caterpillars and 
worms at this time being the greater part of it. While 
not as sociable as the two former species, the Thrasher can 
always be found near the farm buildings. When dusting 
themselves in the dry summer dusty road, they fluff up 
their feathers to such an extent, and raise such a small 
cloud of dust, that they look twice their natural size; 
often have I mistaken them thus for the Bobwhite. They 
are a common bird over our entire section. 
