30 
WOOD THRUSH. 
plays in a few interrupted beams on the glittering surface of the water. 
He is also fond of a particular species of lichen which grows in such 
situations, and which, towards the fall, I have uniformly found in their 
stomachs; berries, however, of various kinds, are his principal food, as 
well as beetles and caterpillars. The feathers on the hind head are 
longer than is usual with birds which have no crest ; these he some- 
times erects ; but this particular cannot be observed but on a close 
examination. 
Those who have paid minute attention to the singing of birds know 
well, that the voice, energy, and expression, in the same tribe, differ as 
widely, as the voices of different individuals of the human species, or 
as one singer does from another. The powers of song in some indi- 
viduals of the Wood Thrush have often surprised and delighted me. 
Of these I remember one, many years ago, whose notes I could instantly 
recognise on entering the woods, and with whom I had been as it were 
acquainted from his first arrival. The top of a large white-oak that 
overhung part of the glen, was usually the favorite pinnacle from 
whence he poured the sweetest melody; to which I had frequently 
listened till night began to gather in the woods ; and the fire-flies to 
sparkle among the branches. But alas ! in the pathetic language of 
the poet, 
"One morn I missed him on the accustomed hill, 
Along the vale, and on his favorite tree — 
Another came, nor yet beside the rill, 
Nor up the glen nor in the wood was he." 
A few days afterwards, passing along the edge of the rocks, I found 
fragments of the wings and broken feathers of a Wood Thrush killed 
by the Hawk, which I contemplated with unfeigned regret, and not 
without a determination to retaliate on the first of these murderers I 
could meet with. 
That I may not seem singular in my estimation of this bird, I shall 
subjoin an extract of a letter from a distinguished American gentleman 
to whom I had sent some drawings, and whose name, were I at liberty 
to give it, would do honor to my humble performance, and render any 
further observations on the subject from me unnecessary. 
" As you are curious in birds, there is one well worthy your attention, 
to be found, or rather heard, in every part of America, and yet scarcely 
ever to be, seen. It is in all the forests from spring to fall, and never 
but on the tops of the tallest trees, from which it perpetually serenades 
us with some of the sweetest notes, and as clear as those of the Nightin- 
gale. I have folloAved 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-colored 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 
