Birds, Illustrated by Color Photography, Vol. 1, No. 3. Various

a mark of maturity alone. His food is composed entirely of insects. Swallows are on the wing fully sixteen hours, and the greater part of the time making terrible havoc amongst the millions of insects which infest the air. It is said that when the Swallow is seen flying high in the heavens, it is a never failing indication of fine weather.

      A pair of Swallows on arriving at their nesting place of the preceding Summer found their nest occupied by a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds at a distance by pecking at them with his strong beak whenever they attempted to dislodge him. Wearied and hopeless of regaining possession of their property, they at last hit upon a plan which effectually punished the intruder. One morning they appeared with a few more Swallows – their mouths filled with a supply of tempered clay – and, by their joint efforts in a short time actually plastered up the entrance to the hole, thus barring the Sparrow from the home which he had stolen from the Swallows.

      THE BROWN THRUSH

      “However the world goes ill,

      The Thrushes still sing in it.”

      THE Mocking-bird of the North, as the Brown Thrush has been called, arrives in the Eastern and Middle States about the 10th of May, at which season he may be seen, perched on the highest twig of a hedge, or on the topmost branch of a tree, singing his loud and welcome song, that may be heard a distance of half a mile. The favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush, however, is amongst the bright and glossy foliage of the evergreens. “There they delight to hide, although not so shy and retiring as the Blackbird; there they build their nests in greatest numbers, amongst the 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 think Cousin Robin is the sweetest singer of our family, but a great many like my song just as well.

      Early in the morning I sing among the bushes, but later in the day you will always find me in the very top of a tree and it is then I sing my best.

      Do you know what I say in my song? Well, if I am near a farmer while he is planting, I say: “Drop it, drop it – cover it up, cover it up – pull it up, pull it up, pull it up.”