MY PET WOOD THRUSHES. 
203 
I had a theory which I often broached to my wife concern- 
ing this branch of the family Turdinse. It was, that the 
Wood Thrush constituted the feathered incarnation of the 
Affectional Sentiment in Mankind — that in its mellow, clear 
and wonderfully liquid notes, we heard the natural language 
of tenderness, pity, charity and hope, and that therefore, the 
fact of Brownie's feeding the poor Kelpie was no accident, but 
that the same sympathetic benevolence would be found to 
characterize the specimens quite generally, and without regard 
to sex. Now, this bird, {Turdus Musicus,) the Song Thrush of 
Europe^ is so nearly allied to {Turdus Melodus) the American 
variety, that the two were for a long time confounded among 
the Old World Naturalists ; and indeed, Wilson was the first 
who drew the clear line of distinction between the two, and 
established ours as a distinct species. This bird was pre- 
sented to us in the fall of the year, and as I had ventured 
to predict, that with the return of spring our new English 
friend would exhibit the same traits as his late American 
kinsman — poor Brownie — in feeding the first young bird of 
the family Turdinse presented to it, I was all eagerness to 
have the spring come, that we might test the question 
fully. 
It happened that a nearly fatal illness overtook me this 
winter, and I was compelled to seek for restoration in the 
South. 
We arrived at Charleston very early in the spring, and by 
the time the mocking birds began to breed, I was able to 
travel far enough by railroad to reach Columbia, the lovely 
capital of the State, where, under the care of that distin- 
guished naturalist, physician and gentleman. Professor Eob- 
ert W. Gibbs, I was soon so far relieved as to be strong 
enough to get out on short excursions occasionally. My wife 
was then engaged in making the drawings of birds which 
are presented in this volume. 
We had, in addition to our pet Englishman, alluded to, a 
fine male Southern mocking bird, which was not quite old 
