Species III. TURD US MELODUS* 



WOOD THKUSH. 



[Plate II. Fig. 1.] 

 Bartram, p. 290. 



This bird is represented on the plate of its natural size ; and par- 

 ticular attention has been paid to render the figure a faithful likeness 

 of the original. It measures eight inches in length, and thirteen from 

 tip to tip of the expanded wings ; the bill is an inch long, the upper 

 mandible of a dusky brown, bent at the point, and slightly notched ; 

 the lower a flesh color towards the base ; the legs are long, and, as well 

 as the claws, of a pale flesh color, or almost transparent. The whole 

 upper parts are of a brown fulvous color brightening into reddish on the 

 head, and inclining to an olive on the rump and tail ; chin white ; throat 

 and breast white, tinged with a light bufi" color, and beautifully marked 

 ■with pointed spots of black or dusky, running in chains from the sides 

 of the mouth, and intei'secting each other all over the breast to the 

 belly, which, with the vent, is of a pure white ; a narrow circle of white 

 surrounds the eye, which is large, full, the pupil black, and the iris of a 

 dark chocolate color ; the inside of the mouth is yellow. The male and 

 female of this species, as indeed of almost the whole genus of Thrushes, 

 difi'er so little as scarcely to be distinguished from each other. It is 

 called by some the Wood Robin, by others the Ground Robin, and by 

 some of our American ornithologists Turdus minor, though, as will 

 hereafter appear, improperly. The present name has been adopted from 

 Mr. William Bartram, who seems to have been the first and almost only 

 naturalist who has taken notice of the merits of this bird. 



This sweet and solitary songster inhabits the whole of North America 

 from Hudson's Bay to the peninsula of Florida. He arrives in Penn- 

 sylvania about the 20th of April, or soon after ; and returns to the 

 south about the beginning of October. The lateness or earliness of the 

 season seems to make less difierence in the times of arrival of our birds of 



* Turdus mustelinus, Gmelin, which name must be adopted. — We add the 

 following synonymes : — T. tnustelinus, GuEh. Stjst. i., p. 817. — Lath. Syn. iii., p. 

 28. — ViEiLL. Ois de V Am. Sept. pi. 02. — Tawny Thrush, Arct. Zool. ii., p. 337. 

 No. 198. 



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