116 WOOD THRUSH. 



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 melodusj) but the tawny-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 chick- 

 en which has lost its mother. This very bird I found numerous 

 in the Myrtle swamps of Carolina in the depth of winter, and 

 I have not a doubt of its being the same which is described by 

 Edwards and Catesby. 



As the count de Buffon has drawn his description from those 

 above mentioned, the same observations apply equally to what 

 he has said on the subject; and the fanciful theory which this 

 writer had formed to account for its want of song, vanishes into 

 empty air; viz. that the Song Thrush of Europe ( Turdus mus- 

 icus) had, at some time after the creation, rambled round by the 

 Nothern ocean, and made its way to America; that advancing 

 to the south it had there (of consequence) become degenerated 

 by change of food and climate, so that its cry is now harsh and 

 unpleasent, " as are the cries of all birds that live in wild coun- 

 tries inhabited by savages."* 



For a figure and description of this passenger Thrush see the 

 following species, 



* Buffon, vol. iii, 289. The figure in PL Enl. 398, has little or no resem- 

 blance to the Wood Thrush, being- of a deep green olive above, and spotted 

 to the very vent, with long streaks of brown. 



