FERRUGINOUS MOCKING-BIRD. 
II 
care in a briar bush, a sumach, or the thickest parts of a low tree, never in 
the interior of the forest, but most commonly in the bramble patches which 
are every where to be met with along the fences or the abandonee] old fields. 
Sometimes it is laid flat on the ground. Although the bird is abundant in 
the barrens of Kentucky, in which and in similar places it seems to delight, 
it has seldom been known to breed there. In the Southern States the nest 
’s frequently found close to the house of the planter, along with that of the 
Mocking-bird. To the eastward, where the denseness of the population 
renders thtvfird more shy, the nest is placed with more care. But wherever 
it is situated, you find it large, composed externally of dry twigs, briars, or 
other small sticks, imbedded in and mixed with dry ieaves, coarse grass, 
and other such materials, thickly lined with fibrous roots, horse hair, and 
sometimes rags and feathers. The eggs are from four to six, of a pale dull 
buff colour, thickly sprinkled with dots of brown. Two broods are usually 
raised in the Southern States, but rarely more than one in the Middle and 
Northern Districts. 
They breed wc-ll in aviaries, and are quite tractable in a closer state of 
confinement. The young are raised in the same manner, and with thesame 
food, as those of the Mocking-bird. In cages it sings well, and has much 
of the movements of the latter bird, being full of activity, petulant, and 
occasionally apt to peck in resentment at the hand which happens to 
approach it. The young begin their musical studies in autumn, repeating 
passages with as much zeal as ever did Paganini. By the following spring 
their full powers of song are developed. 
My friend Bachman, who has raised many of these birds, has favoured me 
with the following particulars respecting them : — “Though good-humoured 
towards the person who feeds them, they are always savage towards all other 
kinds of birds. I placed three sparrows in the cage of a Thrush one even- 
ing, and found them killed, as well as nearly stripped of their feathers, the 
next morning. So perfectly gentle did this bird become, that when I opened 
its cage, it would follow me about the yard and the garden. The instant 
it saw me take a spade or a hoe, it would follow at my heels, and, as I 
turned up the earth, would pick up every insect or worm thus exposed to 
its view. I kept it for three years, and its affection for me at last cost it 
its life. It usually slept on the back of my chair, in my study, and one 
night the door being accidentally left open, it was killed by a cat. I once 
knew a few of these birds remain the whole of a mild winter in the State 
of New York, in a wild state.” 
The Brown or Ferruginous Thrush is the strongest of the genus in the 
United States, neither the Mocking-bird nor the Robin being able to cope 
with it. Like the former, it will chase the cat orthe dog, and ’greatly tease 
