WOOD THRUSH. 31 



by a neighbor, he pronounced it a Muscicapa, and I tliink it much 

 resembles the MoucIteroUe de la Martinique, 8 Buftbn 374, PI. Enhim. 

 568. As it abounds in all the neighborhood of Philadelphia, you may, 

 perhaps, by patience and perseverance (of which much will be requisite) 

 get a sight, if not a possession of it. I have for twenty years interested 

 the young sportsmen of my neighborhood to shoot me one ; but as yet 

 without success." 



It may seem strange that neither Sloane,* Catesby, Edwards nor 

 Buffon, all of whom are said to have described this bird, should say 

 anything of its melody ; or rather, assert that it had only a single cry 

 or scream. This I cannot account for in any other way than by sup- 

 posing, what I think highly probable, that this bird has never been 

 figured or described by any of the above authors. 



Catesby has, indeed, represented a bird, which he calls Tardus mini- 

 mus,'\ but it is difficult to discover, either from the figure or description, 

 what particular species is meant ; or whether it be really intended for 

 the Wood Thrush we are now describing. It resembles, he says, the 

 English Thrush ; but is less, never sings ; has only a single note, and 

 abides all the year in Carolina. It must be confessed that, except the 

 first circumstance, there are few features of the Wood Thrush in this 

 description. I have myself searched the woods of Carolina and 

 Georgia, in winter, fcr this bird, in vain, nor do I believe that it ever 

 winters in these states. If Mr. Catesby found his bird mute during 

 spring and summer, it was not the Wood Thrush ; otherwise he must 

 have changed his very nature. But Mr. Edwards has also described 

 and delineated the Little Thrush, | and has referred to Catesby as hav- 

 ing drawn and engraved it before. Now this Thrush of Edwards I 

 know to be really a difi"erent species ; one not resident in Pennsylvania, 

 but passing to the north in May, and returning the same way in Octo- 

 ber, and may be distinguished from the true Song Thrush {Turdus 

 melodus) by the spots being much broader, brown, and not descendii^g 

 below the breast. It is also an inch shorter, with the cheeks of a bright 

 tawny color. Mr. William Bartram, who transmitted this bird, more 

 than fifty years ago, to Mr. Edwards, by whom it was drawn and 

 engraved, examined the two species in my presence ; and on comparing 

 them with the one in Edwards, was satisfied that the bird there figured 

 and described is not the Wood Thrush {^Turdus melodus), but the tawtjy- 

 cheeked species above mentioned. This species I have never seen in 

 Pennsylvania but in spring and fall. It is still more solitary than the 

 former, and utters, at rare times, a single cry, similar to that of a 



* Hist. Jam. ii., 305. 



+ Catesby, Nat. Hist. Car. i., 31. 



J Edwards, 296. 



