Brown Thrasher

Toxostoma rufum

Its scientific name, Toxostoma rufum, means 'reddish bow-mouth,' for its curved bill. 'Thrasher' may come from the way it thrashes through leaf litter, or from an old form of 'thrush.'

Toxostoma is Greek for 'bow-mouth'; rufum means 'reddish.' 'Toxic' comes from the same Greek word for bow, toxon, by way of poisoned arrows.