WOOD THRUSH. 



27 



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 coloured on the back, and a grayish white 



on the breast and belly. Mr , my son-in-law, was in 



possession of one, which had been shot by a neighbour ; he 

 pronounced it a Muscicapa, and I think it much resembles 

 the Mouche rolle de la Martinique, 8 BufYon, 374, PI. enlum, 

 568. As it abounds in all the neighbourhood 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 

 neighbourhood 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 supposing, what I think highly pro- 

 bable, 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 minimus,^ 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 searched the woods of Carolina and 

 Georgia in winter for this bird in vain, nor do I believe 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 Mi- 

 Edwards has also described and delineated the little thrush, % 



* Hist. Jam. ii. 305. t Catesby's Nat. Hist. Car., i. 31. 



% Edwards, 296. 



