10 
FERRUGINOUS MOCKING-BIRD. 
joy, 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 
after 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, not- 
withstanding 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 
