Species III. TURD US MELODUS* 
WOOD THRUSH. 
[Plate II. Fig. 1.] 
Bartram, p. 290. 
This bird is represented on the plate of its natural size ; and par- 
ticular attention has been paid to render the figure a faithful likeness 
of the original. It measures eight inches in length, and thirteen from 
tip to tip of the expanded wings ; the bill is an inch long, the upper 
mandible of a dusky brown, bent at the point, and slightly notched ; 
the lower a flesh color towards the base ; the legs are long, and, as well 
as the claws, of a pale flesh color, or almost transparent. The whole 
upper parts are of a brown fulvous color brightening into reddish on the 
head, and inclining to an olive on the rump and tail ; chin white ; throat 
and breast white, tinged with a light buff color, and beautifully marked 
with pointed spots of black or dusky, running in chains from the sides 
of the mouth, and intersecting each other all over the breast to the 
belly, which, with the vent, is of a pure white ; a narrow circle of white 
surrounds the eye, which is large, full, the pupil black, and the iris of a 
dark chocolate color; the inside of the mouth is yellow. The male and 
female of this species, as indeed of almost the whole genus of Thrushes, 
differ so little as scarcely to be distinguished from each other. It is 
called by some the Wood Robin, by others the Ground Robin, and by 
some of our American ornithologists Turdus minor, though, as will 
hereafter appear, improperly. The present name has been adopted from 
Mr. William Bartram, who seems to have been the first and almost only 
naturalist who has taken notice of the merits of this bird. 
This sweet and solitary songster inhabits the whole of North America 
from Hudson's Bay to the peninsula of Florida. He arrives in Penn- 
sylvania about the 20th of April, or soon after ; and returns to the 
south about the beginnino; of October. The lateness or earliness of the 
season seems to make less difference in the times of arrival of our birds of 
* Turdus musteliuus, Gmelin, which name must be adopted. — We add the 
following synonymes : — T. mustdinus, Gmel. Syst. i., p. 817. — Lath. Syn. in., p. 
28. — Vieill. Ois de VAm. Sept. pi. 62. — Tawny Thrush, Arct. Zool. n., p. 337, 
No. 198. 
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