BROWN THRASHER 123 



In song and movements the Thrasher is very 

 like the Mocking Bird and Catbird, to whom he is 

 closely related; bnt he is more of a ground bird 

 than they, darting in and out of brier patches 

 and fence-rows, looking all over the yard and gar- 

 den for cutworms and grubworms, mounting to a 

 treetop only when ready to pour himself out in 

 song. And what a song! In tone and delivery 

 it resembles that of the Catbird, but is rounder 

 and more uniformly sweet, containing no harsh 

 notes and no imitations. Among writers on birds 

 there seems a great difference of opinion about 

 his quality as a musician, some pronouncing his 

 performance second only to that of the Mocking 

 Bird, and others declaring it to be a monotonous 

 repetition of a single phrase. Well, if it be 

 monotonous, then the Nightingale's is monot- 

 onous. All agree, I believe, in praising the 

 sweetness of the Thrasher's tone. 



Much confusion has arisen as to the identities 

 of this bird and the Wood Thrush, although they 

 are not so similar that they need be mistaken 

 for each other when one has once had a good 

 look at them both. The Wood Thrush is not 

 brown at all except on the head, while this color 

 extends all over the Thrasher; the breasts are 

 speckled something alike, but the Thrasher may 

 be certainly known by the two lighter bars on the 

 wing. The songs, too, are utterly unlike. 



