34 WOOD THRUSH. 



passing to the north in May, and returning the same way in Octo- 

 ber, and may be distinguished from the true Song Thrush {Turdus 

 Melodus) by the spots being much broader, brown, and not descend- 

 ing below the breast. It is also an inch shorter, with the cheeks 

 of a bright tawny color. Mr. William Bartram, who transmitted 

 this bird, more than 50 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 Melodus), 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 chicken 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 Musicus) had, at 

 some time after the creation, rambled round by the Northern 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 unpleasant, " as are the 

 cries of all birds that live in wild countries inhabited by savages. 



A figure and description of this passenger Thrush will appear 

 in an early part of the present work. 



* Buffon, vol. iii, 289. The figure in PI. Enl. 398, has Httle or no resemblance to the 

 Wood Thrush, bemg of a deep green olive above, and spotted to the very vent, with long 

 streaks of brown. 



