10 FERRUGINOUS MOCKING-BIRD. 



jor, for, on taking the almost expiring bird into my hand for a few minutes, 

 she recovered in some degree, and I restored her to her anxious mate. 



The Brown Thrush, or Thrasher, by which names this bird is generally 

 known, may, be said to be a constant resident in the United States, as 

 immense numbers are found all the year round in Louisiana, the Floridas, 

 Georgia, and the Carolinas. Indeed some spend the winter in Virginia and 

 Maryland. During spring and summer they are met with in all our Eastern 

 States. They also enter the British provinces, and are sometimes seen in 

 Nova Scotia; but I observed none farther north. It is the most numerous 

 species found in the Union, excepting the Robin or Migratory Thrush. 

 Those which breed in the Middle and Eastern Districts return to the south 

 about the beginning of October, having been absent fully six months from 

 that genial region, where more than half of the whole number remain at all 

 seasons. They migrate by day, and singly, never congregating, notwith- 

 standing their abundance. They fly low, or skip from one bush to another, 

 their longest flight seldom exceeding the breadth of a field or river. They 

 seem to move rather heavily, on account of the shortness of their wings, the 

 concavity of which usually produces a rustling sound, and they travel very 

 silently. 



No sooner has the bird reached its destined abode, than whenever a fair 

 morning occurs, it mounts the topmost twig of a detached tree, and pours 

 forth its loud, richly varied, and highly melodious song. It scarcely 

 possesses the faculty of imitation, but is a steady performer; and, although 

 it sings for hours at a time, seldom, if ever, commits errors while repeating 

 the beautiful lessons set to it by Nature, all of which it studies for months 

 during spring and summer. Ah! reader, that I could repeat to you its 

 several cadences, all so full of sweetness and melody, that one might imagine 

 each last trill, as it dies on the ear, the careful lullaby of some blessed mother 

 chanting her babe to repose; — that I could imitate its loudest notes, surpassed 

 only by those of that unrivalled vocalist, the Mocking-bird! But, alas! it 

 is impossible for me to convey to you the charms of the full song of the 

 Brown Thrush; you must go to its own woods and there listen to it. In the 

 southern districts, it now and then enlivens the calm of autumnal days by 

 its song, but it is generally silent after the breeding season. 



The actions of this species during the period of courtship are very curious, 

 the male often strutting before the female with his tail trailing on the ground, 

 moving gracefully round her, in the manner of some pigeons, and while 

 perched and singing in her presence, vibrating his body with vehemence. 

 In Louisiana, the Brown Thrush builds its nest as early as the beginning of 

 March; in the Middle Districts rarely before the middle of May; while in 

 Maine, it seldom has it finished before June. It is placed without much 



