perennial foliage, and there they draw at nightfall to repose in warmth
and safety." The Brown Thrasher sings chiefly just after sunrise and
before sunset, but may be heard singing at intervals during the day. His
food consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries,
snails, worms, slugs and grubs. He also obtains much of his food
amongst the withered leaves and marshy places of the woods and
shrubberies which he frequents. Few birds possess a more varied melody.
His notes are almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at
the caprice of the bird, without any perceptible approach to order.

The site of the Thrush's nest is a varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the branches of stately trees, or
amongst the ivy growing up their trunks. The nest is composed of the
small dead twigs of trees, lined with the fine fibers of roots. From
three to five eggs are deposited, and are hatched in about twelve days.
They have a greenish background, thickly spotted with light brown,
giving the whole egg a brownish appearance.

The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern and Middle States, on his migration
South, late in September, remaining until the following May.

* * *

THE THRUSH'S NEST.

"Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
That overhung a molehill, large and round,
I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
With joy--and oft an unintruding guest,
I watched her secret toils from day to day;
How true she warped the moss to form her nest,
And modeled it within with wood and clay.
And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,
There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,
Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:
And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,
A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky."

THE BROWN THRUSH.

Dear Readers:

My cousin Robin Redbreast told me that he wrote you a letter last month
and sent it with his picture. How did you like it? He is a pretty
bird--Cousin Robin--and everybody likes him. But I must tell you
something of myself.

Folks call me by different names--some of them nicknames, too.

The cutest one of all is Brown Thrasher. I wonder if you know why they
call me Thrasher. If you don't, ask some one. It is really funny.

Some people thi