"Finally, the person who had captured the young bird could stand this no longer, but mounting a ladder opened the cage and took out the prisoner. When the old tanager saw that his beloved charge was free, he uttered the most exulting notes, while the little one chirped his satisfaction; and the two were soon wending their joyful way to the woods."

The children seemed to enjoy this account very much, and were particularly glad that they had really seen the scarlet tanager. They saw, of course, a number of other birds in the woods, and heard some very sweet songs from them, all of which Miss Harson promised to tell them about afterward. But after a little play, and considerable hunting for ferns, of which a very pretty collection was made, and some unsuccessful chases of Malcolm's after squirrels, it became time to think of going home, where they all finally arrived a little tired, but declaring that they had had a delightful day.

CHAPTER XV.

THRUSHES.

OME of the sweetest notes that we heard in

"SOME

66

the woods," said Miss Harson one evening,

came from the thrushes, of which there are several kinds. The brown thrush, or thrasher (Fig. 12), as

he is often called,

is the largest of

them all, and is a very sweet singer. He is of a bright reddish-brown, the wings crossed with two bars of white, relieved with black. The lower parts are yellowish-white, while the breast and sides under the

wings are beauti

fully marked with long, pointed spots of black in chains. This bird is over eleven inches in length.

"He arrives in Pennsylvania when the cherry trees begin to blossom, and from the tops of hedgerows or fruit trees he salutes the early morning with his charming song, which is loud enough to be heard half a mile off. His notes are not imitative, but entirely his own, though full of variety. He is very active, generally flying low from one thicket to another, with his long, broad tail spread out like a fan; he often hovers about brier and bramble bushes and along fences; and when his nest is approached he utters a single note or chuck.

"For this nest a thorn-bush, low cedar, thicket of briers, dogwood sapling, or cluster of vines is chosen, according to the situation, a few feet from the ground. The outside is formed of small sticks; then come layers of dry leaves, and lastly a lining of fine, fibrous roots. There are five eggs, pale blue, thickly sprinkled with reddish spots.

"The brown thrush feeds on worms scratched from the ground, caterpillars, and various kinds of berries. Beetles, too, are sure to be devoured whenever he can get them. He is accused of scratching up the hills of Indian corn in planting-time; but if this is true, it is probably done to get at an ugly, black-headed worm that would be far more injurious to the crops if suffered to remain.

"Watch an old thrush,' says one of his friends,

'pounce down on a lawn moistened with dew and rain. At first he stands motionless, apparently thinking of nothing at all, his eye vacant or with an unmeaning gaze. Suddenly he cocks his ear on one side, makes a glancing sort of dart with his head and neck, gives perhaps one or two hops, and then stops, again listening attentively and his eye glistening with attention and animation; his beak almost touches the ground; he draws back his head as if to make a determined peck. Again he pauses; listens again; hops perhaps once or twice, scarcely moving his position, and pecks, smartly on the sod; then is once more motionless as a stuffed bird. But he knows well what he is about; for, after another moment's pause, having ascertained that all is right, he pecks away with might and main, and soon draws out a fine worm, which his fine sense of hearing had informed him was not far off, and which his hops and previous peckings had attracted to the surface to escape the approach of what the poor worm thought might be his underground enemy, the mole.'

"This bird sings well in a cage, and will sometimes utter words distinctly, one having been known to say, My dear! my pretty dear! my pretty little dear!' as plainly as possible."

"Oh, do let us have one, Miss Harson !" cried Clara and Edith in great delight.

"We will have several," was the smiling reply, "but I think we will keep them in the woods at present;" and the little girls rather reluctantly agreed that this would be the best way.

"Somebody tells a story of the thrush's powers of reasoning which is really remarkable. This bird had been reared from the nest, and became very tame and docile. 'I frequently let him out of the cage,' says the writer, 'to give him a taste of liberty. After fluttering and dusting himself in dry sand and earth, and bathing, washing, and dressing himself, he would proceed to hunt insects, such as beetles, crickets, and other shelly tribes; but being very fond of wasps, after catching them, and knocking them about to break their wings, he would lay them down, then examine if they had a sting, and with his bill squeeze the abdomen to clear it of the reservoir of poison before he would swallow his prey.

"When in his cage, being very fond of dry crusts of bread, if upon trial the corners of the crumbs were too hard and sharp for his throat, he would throw them up, carry and put them in his water-dish to soften; then take them out and swallow them. What could the wisest man have done better?'

"The golden-crowned thrush has not much to do with his name, as the upper part of his head is of a brownish-orange rather than gold color.

He is only