30 "WOOD THRUSH. 



plays in a few interrupted ])eams on the glittering surface of the -water. 

 He is also fond of a particular species of lichen which grows in such 

 situations, and which, towards the fall, I have uniformly found in their 

 stomachs ; berries, however, of various kinds, are his princiiial food, as 

 well as beetles and caterpillai's. The feathers on the hind head are 

 lonf^er than is usual with birds which have no crest; these he some- 

 times erects ; but this particular cannot be observed but on a close 

 examination. 



Those who have paid minute attention to the singing of birds know 

 well, that the voice, energ}^ and expression, in the same tribe, diflor as 

 widely, as the voices of different individuals of the human species, or 

 as one singer does from another. The powers of song in some indi- 

 viduals of the Wood Thrush have often surprised and delighted me. 

 Of these I remember one, many years ago, whose notes I could instantly 

 recognise on entering the woods, and with whom I had been as it were 

 acquainted from his first arrival. The top of a large white-oak that 

 overhung part of the glen, was usually the favorite pinnacle from 

 whence he poured the sweetest melody ; to which I had frequently 

 listened till night began to gather in the woods ; and the fire-flies to 

 sparkle among the branches. But alas ! in the pathetic language of 



the poet, 



"One morn I missed him on the accustomed hill, 

 Along the vale, and on his favorite tree — 

 Another came, nor yet beside the rill, 

 Nor up the glen nor in the wood was he." 



A few days afterwards, passing along the edge of the rocks, I found 

 fragments of the winijs and broken feathers of a Wood Thrush killed 

 by the Hawk, which I contemplated with unfeigned regret, and not 

 without a determination to retaliate on the first of these murderers I 

 could meet with. 



That I may not seem singular in my estimation of this bird, I shall 

 subjoin an extract of a letter from a distinguished American gentleman 

 to whom I ha<l sent some drawings, and whose name, were I at liberty 

 to give it, would do honor to my humble performance, and render any 

 further observations on the subject from me unnecessary. 



" As you are curious in birds, there is one well worthy your attention, 

 to be found, or rather heard, in every part of America, and yet scarcely 

 ever to be seen. It is in all the forests from spring to fall, and never 

 but on the tops of the tallest trees, from which it perpetually serenades 

 us with some of the sweetest notes, and as clear as those of the Nightii;- 

 gnle. I have followed it for miles without ever but once getting a good 

 view of it. It is of the size and make of the Mocking-bird, lightly 

 thrush-colored on the back, and a grayish white on the breast and belly. 

 Mr. , my son-in-law, was in possession of one which hvA been shot 



