A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



men 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 perpetually ser- 

 enades 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 mocking-bird, lightly 

 thrush-colored on the back, and a grayish 

 white on the breast and belly. Mr. Ran- 

 dolph, my son-in-law, was in possession of 

 one which had been shot by a neighbor," 

 etc. Randolph pronounced it a flycatcher, 

 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 those which specialists often 



