40 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



ply Jefferson called his attention to a " curious 

 bird " which was everywhere to be heard, but 

 scarcely ever to be seen. He had for twenty 

 years interested the young sportsmen of his 

 neighborhood to shoot one for him, but without 

 success. "It is in all the forests, from spring to 

 fall," he says in his letter, " and never but on 

 the tops of the tallest trees, from which it per- 

 petually serenades us with some of the sweetest 

 notes, and as clear as those of the nightingale. 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 mockingbird, lightly thrush-colored 

 on the back, and a grayish-white on the breast 

 and belly. Mr. Randolph, my son-in-law, was in 

 possession of one which had been shot by a 

 neighbor," etc. Randolph pronounced it a fly- 

 catcher, which was a good way wide of the mark. 

 Jefferson must have seen only the female, after 

 all his tramp, from his description of the color ; 

 but he was doubtless following his own great 

 thoughts more than the bird, else he would have 

 had an earlier view. The bird was not a new one, 

 but was well known then as the ground-robin. 

 The President put Wilson on the wrong scent 

 by his erroneous description, and it was a long 

 time before the latter got at the truth of the 

 case. But Jefferson's letter is a good sample of 



