\ 



7—7 



/ </l.€^ /L.<^^ X=t:^ ^^..S^ ^y^^ ^ 



BROWN THRUail ; BnOWN THRASHER. 



Despite a lack of quality in tone, the Thrasher is one of the 

 favorites ; his fame is assured. In exuberance and peculiarity 

 of performance he is unsurpassed, unless it be by the Catbird. 

 While prone to the conversational style, he is capable of splendid 

 inspiration. On a fine morning in June, when he rises to the 

 branch of a wayside tree, or to the top of a bush at the edge of 

 the pasture, the first eccentric accent compels us to admit that the 

 spirit of song has fast hold on him. As the fervor increases, his 

 long and elegant tail droops, his whole plumage is loosened and 

 trembling, his head is raised, and his bill is wide open ; there is 

 no mistake, it is the power of the god. No pen can report him 

 now ; we must wait till the frenzy passes. Then we may catch 

 such fragments as these : 



Jjivftly. 



