SPECIES 4. TURD US SOLITARIUS. * 



HERMIT THRUSH. 

 [Plate XLIIL Fig. 2.] 



Little Thrush, CATESBY, i, 31. EDWARDS, 296. Brown Thrush, 

 Jlrct. Zool. 337, JVb. 199, PEALE'S Museum, JVo. 3542. 



THE dark solitary cane and myrtle swamps of the southern 

 states are the favourite native haunts of this silent and recluse spe- 

 cies, and the more deep and gloomy these are, the more certain 

 we are to meet with this bird flitting among them. This is the 

 species mentioned while treating of the Wood Thrush, as having 

 been figured and described more than fifty years ago by Edwards, 

 from a dried specimen sent him by my friend Mr. William 

 Bartram, under the supposition that it was the Wood Thrush 

 ( Turdus melodus. ) It is however considerably less, very dif- 

 ferently marked, and altogether destitute of the clear voice 

 and musical powers of that charming minstrel. It also differs 

 in remaining in the southern states during the whole year; 

 whereas the Wood Thrush does not winter even in Georgia; 

 nor arrives within the southern boundary of that state until 

 some time in April. 



The Hermit Thrush is rarely seen in Pennsylvania, unless 

 for a few weeks in spring and late in the fall, long after the 

 Wood Thrush has left us, and when scarcely a summer bird re- 

 mains in the woods. In both seasons it is mute, having only, in 

 spring, an occasional squeak like that of a young stray chicken. 



* Turdus minor, GMELIN, which name having the priority must be adopted. 



We add the following synonymes: T. minor, GM. Syst. i, p. 809. LATH. 

 Syn. m, p- 20. JVb. S.Mauvis de la Caroline, BUFF. Pi. Enl. 556, Jig. 2. Tunhu 

 fuscus, GMEL. Syst. i, p. 817. LATH. Syn. m, p. 28, JVb. 16. 



